Israel Pelletier argues that "Trois contes" demands a different kind of reading which distinguishes it from "Madame Bovary" and other Flaubert texts. By the time he wrote this late work, Flaubert's attitude toward his characters and the role of fiction had changed to accommodate different social, political, and literary pressures. He constructed two opposing levels of meaning for each of the stories, straight and ironic, which produced a more fruitful way of addressing some of his concerns and assumptions about langauge and illusion. Included in this study are a provocative feminist reading of "Un Coeur," an assessment of "Saint Julien" as Flaubert's attempt to come to terms with his originality as a writer, and an interpretation of "Herodias" as an autobiography of the writing process.

A collection of critical essays on the work of Flaubert.

Here, Mary Orr offers a new approach to Flaubert's fiction and to the field of gender studies. Various received ideas about Flaubert, his novels, patriarchy, realism and the primacy of gender over sex are re-evaluated.

Reference Guide to Short Fiction provides study and commentary on the most instrumental writers of short fiction through the 20th century. International in scope, this single scholarly volume includes 779 entries on 377 authors and 402 short stories.

William J. Berg and Laurey K. Martin offer a complete overview of Flaubert's fiction, from the early pieces to the major works: Madame Bovary, Salammbo, Sentimental Education, The Temptation of Saint Anthony, Three Tales, and Bouvard and Pecuchet. Through detailed readings based on stylistic and thematic analyses, the authors show how in each work Flaubert develops new literary forms and techniques that enable him to explore problems that plague humankind in a world devoid of sense and structure. In their thorough study, Berg and Martin consider many of the critical approaches applied to Flaubert's works in order to add new perspectives. Their cogent examination of the novelist's own innovative theories about literature demonstrates how Flaubert inaugurated new ways of reading the novel. In answer to the question "Why Read Flaubert?" underlying this study, Berg and Martin contend that Flaubert's writings present an uncannily modern painting of the human condition and confirm the redemptive power of art in dealing with the problems that beset humankind.

From Goethe to Gide brings together twelve essays on canonical male writers (six French and six German) commissioned from leading specialists from Britain and North America. These essays, aimed at final year undergraduates and postgraduates, focus on Rousseau, Goethe, Schiller, Hoffmann, Stendhal, Baudelaire, Flaubert, Heine, Fontane, Zola, Kafka, and Gide. The collection therefore foregrounds the major authors taught in British university BA courses in French and German. Working with the tools of feminist criticism, the authors demonstrate how feminist readings of these writings can illuminate far more than attitudes towards women.

A collection of poetry, prose, drama, and fiction written from the sixteenth century through the twentieth century by various writers from around the world.