Gustave Flaubert and the ‘Madame Bovary’ Trial

Summary

Podcast Summary: Stuff You Missed in History Class

Episode: Gustave Flaubert and the ‘Madame Bovary’ Trial
Hosts: Holly Frey & Tracy V. Wilson
Release Date: March 11, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode delves into the tumultuous life of Gustave Flaubert, focusing on his most famous work, Madame Bovary, and the sensational obscenity trial it inspired in mid-19th-century France. The hosts, Holly Frey and Tracy V. Wilson, explore Flaubert's upbringing, his approach to writing and perfectionism, the events and atmosphere leading to his prosecution, and the aftermath—how legal scandal propelled Madame Bovary to literary fame.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Gustave Flaubert’s Early Life and Personality

• Family & Childhood

  • Born December 12, 1821, in Rouen, France, to a wealthy yet tragic family (04:39).
  • His father, Achille, was a surgeon and savvy real estate investor, contributing to the family's wealth (05:27).
  • The family suffered many losses; several siblings died young, leading to anxiety especially from Flaubert's mother, which affected the surviving children (05:27–06:54).
  • Grew up next to a hospital, frequently exposed to illness, death, and loss—a formative experience (06:54–07:11).
  • Early attachment to storytelling: sought out adults who could spin tales, and was enchanted by Don Quixote as a young boy (07:11–07:42).
  • Delayed learning to read, but once literate, was a voracious reader and prolific writer, even as a child (07:42–08:02).

• Adolescence and Education

  • Wrote unusually insightful letters for a child, showing early maturity (08:02).
  • Attended boarding school from age 10, published first piece at 16: “Le Colibri” (08:02–08:46).
  • Wrote his first novel, Memoire d’un Fou (Memoirs of a Madman), inspired by his unrequited fixation on an older woman (08:46–09:14).
  • Developed strong opinions against clichés, compiling a list of commonplace “stupid” ideas with his friend Alfred Le Poitevin—a habit that would influence his later work (09:14–10:28).
  • Expelled from school in his final year, after clashing with a substitute philosophy teacher (10:28).
  • Sent on a Mediterranean trip as a reward after passing his final exams (10:59).

• Young Adulthood and Health

  • Began but disliked law studies in Paris, suffering both from lack of interest and serious seizures — possibly epilepsy (11:19–12:39).
  • Wrote vividly about his neurological attacks:

    "Each attack was like a hemorrhage of the nervous system...I am convinced I died several times. But what constitutes the personality? The rational essence was present throughout...my soul was turned back entirely on itself, like a hedgehog wounding itself with its own quills." – Gustave Flaubert (11:59–12:39)

  • Illness ended his legal studies; father bought him a home in Croisset to convalesce and focus on writing (13:52).

Flaubert’s Writing Career and Process

• Relentless Perfectionism

  • Repeatedly rewrote and recycled his early work throughout his career, refusing to publish until completely satisfied (19:16).
  • Example: transformed his youthful obsession with an older woman into various storylines, culminating much later in better-known novels (19:16–20:44).

• Personal Tragedy

  • Suffered the deaths of both his father and beloved sister, then adopted his niece Caroline (20:44–21:13).
  • In 1846, began a passionate eight-year affair with poet Louise Collet—a fiery and complicated relationship (21:13–22:13).

• Literary Setbacks and Inspiration

  • Wrote a much-maligned early novel, which friends suggested he destroy (22:41).
  • Travel experiences, friendships, and first (unpublished) attempts paved the way for Madame Bovary.

Genesis and Publication of Madame Bovary

• Origins of Emma Bovary

  • Character was an amalgam of real women (e.g., Dr. Delamare’s wife) and Flaubert’s own personality:

    “He always told anyone who asked who Madame Bovary was based on that it was himself...famously quoted everywhere you can find as Madame Bovary, c’est moi.” – Holly Frey (24:47)

  • The story resonated for its portrayal of longing, dissatisfaction, and the dissonance between romantic fantasy and reality (25:10–26:57).
  • Breaks up with Louise Collet definitively during the writing process with a cutting, final note:

    “I am bound by the rules of politeness to warn you that I shall never be [in].” – Gustave Flaubert, letter to Louise Collet, 1855 (25:54)

• Plot Summary (26:57)

  • Emma Bovary, raised on romance novels, is married to a dull country doctor and finds herself stifled by bourgeois life. She pursues affairs and luxury, leading to her downfall. The novel offers a deliberately unsatisfying conclusion, reflecting the injustices of real life.

• Publication and Censorship

  • Serialized in the Revue de Paris (Oct–Dec 1856) — editors cut one steamy scene, at Flaubert's explicit request they note the omission (28:41).
  • French government accused the book of being “blasphemous and of offending public morals” (28:41).
  • Flaubert noted, with wry satisfaction, that the charge elevated both his own and his book’s fame:

    “They thought they were attacking a run-of-the-mill novel and some ordinary little scribbler. Whereas now, in part thanks to the prosecution, my novel is looked on as a masterpiece…While waiting, I am preparing my statement, which is simply my novel itself…” – Gustave Flaubert, letter to his brother (30:16)

The 1857 Obscenity Trial

• Prosecution's Approach and Accusations

  • Opening remarks from lead prosecutor Ernest Pinard:

    “What is to be done in such a case?…relate to you the whole story of the romance without reading any of it or pointing out any incriminating passage, then to cite incriminating texts, and finally to answer the objections that may arise…” – Ernest Pinard (31:50)

  • Pinard spent nearly an hour summarizing the novel, arguing it glorified adultery, insulted religion, and that the author was the principal offender (33:49–35:07).

• Defense's Arguments

  • Flaubert’s attorney, Senard, opened:

    “Monsieur Gustave Flaubert is beside me and affirms before you that he has made an honest book. He affirms before you that…from the first line to the last, is a moral thought…” – Defense opening, Senard (35:07–35:59)

  • Defense invoked Flaubert’s character, literary intent, and even some misogyny, painting Emma Bovary’s tragedy as a caution against female overeducation and ambition (35:59–37:04).
  • Senard insisted on reading the suppressed scene, emphasizing its ultimate moralizing tone:

    “In her heart, she felt already that cowardly docility that is for some women at once the chastisement and atonement of adultery.” (37:46)

• Critique of Gender Double Standards

  • Holly points out:

    “All of the firestorm around it regarding morality was based on the idea that the wife of an upstanding husband would dare to commit adultery. There is never ever introduced...any moral red flag regarding the male characters…” (39:34)

• Verdict and Aftermath

  • After a week, Flaubert and his publisher were acquitted (42:12).
  • Key quote from the verdict:

    “It is not sufficiently proven that Pichat, Gustave Flaubert and Pillay are guilty of the misdemeanor with which they are charged, the court acquits them…” (41:30)

    • Publication as a two-volume novel followed swiftly, and it became an instant bestseller—its notoriety helping cement Flaubert’s place in the literary canon (42:12–42:33).

Flaubert’s Later Years and Legacy

• Subsequent Works and Struggles
  • Avoided further legal trouble by pausing publication of works like The Temptation of St. Anthony, instead releasing Salammbô (a historical novel, 1862), which was also a bestseller (42:33–43:52).
  • Published L’Éducation Sentimentale in 1870, which received a lackluster response, much to his disappointment (43:52–44:09).
  • Personal tragedies continued: illness, the Prussian occupation of his home, and the contested inheritance after his mother's death (44:09–45:06).
• Final Works and Death
  • Completion and eventual publication of The Temptation of St. Anthony (1874), after many rewrites across decades (45:06–46:04).
  • Financial difficulties led him to rework his adolescent catalogue of clichés into the (unfinished) comic satire Bouvard et Pécuchet (46:04–47:41).
  • Final letter shows fatigue and reflection:

    “But there are moments when I feel I’m liquefying like an old Camembert. I’m so tired.” – Gustave Flaubert, April 1880 (48:10)

  • Died May 8, 1880, mid-sentence. Bouvard et Pécuchet was published posthumously with mixed reviews (48:40–48:57).

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On childhood, reading, and influence:

  “I find all my roots in the book I learned by heart before learning how to read—Don Quixote.” – Flaubert, recalled by Tracy (07:25)

• On writing and perfectionism:

  “He did not want anyone to see any of his works until he was 100% happy. He often recopied them over and over, editing as he went.” – Holly (19:16)

• On gender double standards in morality:

  “All of the firestorm…was based on the idea that the wife of an upstanding husband would dare to commit adultery. There is never ever…any moral red flag regarding the male characters.” – Holly (39:34)

• On the notoriety of the trial:

  “They thought they were attacking a run of the mill novel and some ordinary little scribbler. Whereas now, in part thanks to the prosecution, my novel is looked on as a masterpiece.” – Gustave Flaubert (30:16)

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Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• [03:09] – Introduction to Flaubert, family background, early childhood experiences
• [07:11–08:46] – Flaubert’s early literary influences, adolescence, and first works
• [10:28–12:39] – Expulsion from school, aborted law career, and onset of illness
• [19:16] – Flaubert’s approach to revision and perfectionism
• [20:44–22:13] – Personal tragedies and introduction to Louise Collet
• [24:47–26:57] – Genesis of Madame Bovary and Emma’s character
• [28:41–30:16] – Publication, censorship, and Flaubert's reaction to prosecution
• [31:50–37:46] – The trial: prosecution, defense, and key passages at issue
• [42:12–42:33] – Acquittal and immediate bestseller status
• [45:06–46:48] – Final works, late-life hardships, and approach to Bouvard et Pécuchet
• [48:10–48:57] – Flaubert’s final days and posthumous legacy

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Conclusion

The episode powerfully illustrates how the supposedly scandalous nature of Madame Bovary and the government’s attempt to censor it ironically secured both Flaubert’s infamy and his place in literary history. The hosts highlight the hypocrisy of contemporary gender norms, the idiosyncrasies of Flaubert’s personality, and the enduring relevance of his struggle for artistic integrity and moral complexity.

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For those who haven't listened:
This episode is a compelling, often witty, and accessible journey into the making of a literary classic—blending biography, cultural insight, gender critique, and an entertaining peek into 19th-century literary politics.

Transcript

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[Holly Frey]

Welcome to stuff you missed in History Class, a production of iHeartradio. Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly Fry.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

And I'm Tracy V. Wilson.

[Holly Frey]

So while I was working on research for our recent episode on Thea fieldsteinlen, I was reminded while I was looking at the history of French censorship of the trial of Gustave Flaubert during the French Second Empire regarding his novel Madame Bovary. And I have rather fond memories of studying that book. I have feelings about it. We'll talk about him on Friday. Madame Bovary, as we'll say, because it's a little easier than saying the French accent every time is today considered a classic. And it's, you know, pretty tame in nature. But when it was written in the 1850s, not considered tame, it fell under the accusing eye of the French government for its sexual content. So for today, first we're gonna talk a bit about Gustave Flaubert himself and then bring his life story to the point where he found himself on trial for writing a book that was accused of being immoral. That was really pretty early in his career as a writer. And then we'll talk a little bit about the effects of the trial and his life after it. I feel like I should say this is for someone like me that's read a lot about Gustave Flaubert, this feels very much not comprehensive. I'm like, oh, I left so much out. Even so, it's a little bit longish. So just know if you are a Flaubert scholar, you're going to be like, you left so much out. And I'm going to be like, I know, baby, I know. That's what's up. So.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Gustave Flaubert was born December 12, 1821, in Rouen, France. His father, Achille Cleophar Flaubert, was a surgeon. His mother, Anne Justine Caroline Fleurio, was from a family that could trace its roots back back hundreds of years in the history of Normandy. Dr. Flaubert accumulated wealth and property, but throughout his career, he remained dedicated to caring for Rouen's poor and indigent. He was known as an outgoing man who excelled as a teacher to the students at Hotel Dieu, where he was the head of surgery. The Flauberts also accumulated a lot of wealth through real estate. Akhile Cleophat purchased land whenever he could. And then he rented that land out for farming.

[Holly Frey]

Yeah, he really was much wealthier than a doctor in his particular role would normally be because he was very smart about investing. So by the time Gustav was born, the Flaubert's had welcomed several children, but they had tragically lost several as well. First, they had a son named Achille after his father. And then they had a daughter who died as an infant. Their second son, Emile Cleophat, died at eight months. And their third son, Jules Alfred, was born in 1819. That was two years before Gustav. Sadly, Jules died in the autumn of 1822, leaving only Achilles and Gustav at that point. And then finally they had a daughter named Caroline, who was born two and a half years after Gustavus. Uh, his mother understandably grieved deeply for all of these losses. And she also developed what's described as a pretty high level of anxiety about her remaining children because she was afraid something would happen to them. And that anxiety was something those kids were very much aware of. In addition to that, the family lived adjacent to the hospital. They were in, like an apartment that was connected directly to the facility. And that meant that the children that Gustav and his siblings made friends with were patients. And the Flaubert kids became very acquainted with loss, as many of those friends died from their illnesses. Additionally, the children were allowed to freely roam the hospital. So they often saw the kinds of things that most parents would probably want to shield their children from. And they even went with their father on visits to mental asylums when he made medical visits there, maybe trying to

[Tracy V. Wilson]

get a break from all the anxieties and sorrows of this day to day life. Gustav is said to have sought out adults around him who were good at telling stories. One was a young woman named Julie, who was hired to help with the children and to help around the house. Another was a neighbor named Mignon. And Monsieur Mignon told him stories of Don Quixote, which left a very strong impression on the young boy. Flaubert later wrote, quote, I find all my roots in the book. I learned by heart before learning how to read Don Quixote. Apparently it took him a while to learn how to read because he preferred to have people just read to him. But once he did learn he was a voracious reader, he also started writing letters to just about everyone he knew as a child.

[Holly Frey]

Yeah, these are also the kinds of letters that you would not associate with a child's writing. He wrote like long letters about his inner thoughts and, like, what was going on in the world. Around him. Like, they sound much more informative than many letters that I would certainly write today. At the age of 10, Gustav went to boarding school, although that school was still quite close to his home. But he did board there, and he was there for the next eight years. When he was still a teenager of 16, he published his first piece in a local literary review titled Le Colibri. That means the Hummingbird. It is unclear to me what the subject of that early writing was.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

He also completed his first novel that year, Memoire d' en Feu, or Memoirs of a Madman. This was about a married woman 11 years older than him, who he was obsessed with. It was based on his real life, about a woman named Eliza Schlesinger, who had no idea this teenager thought that he was in love with her. He did not publish this manuscript or anything else for decades.

[Holly Frey]

Yeah, it does come back in a different way, but that is very fascinating. Apparently Schlesinger, who he came to know later in life, did not find out until like, 35 years later that she was the subject of this book or that he had been just obsessed with her as a teenager. When he was still a teen, he also became friends with the pessimist philosopher Alfred Le Pois, and the two men remained lifelong friends. Early on in his life, Flaubert developed this very strong sensibility in which he absolutely loathed things like cliches and what he called ide request, preconceived ideas. And he started compiling a list of these things, basically anything that was often repeated as known wisdom that he thought was stupid. This may be the thing that makes me feel the most affinity for Gustav Flaubert. We'll talk about it on Friday. There was a very real degree of intellectual snobbery to Flaubert, even as a child and as a teen. And he and Le Poitevin came up with an imaginary character that they named simply Le Garon. And he kind of became the bourgeois embodiment of every stupid thing that they heard people saying.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Flaubert was thrown out of school the year he was supposed to graduate. It's not 100% clear what happened here, but the prevailing theory is that when the school's well liked philosophy teacher took a leave due to illness, Gustav and his friends were just at odds with the substitute. And things escalated to the point that the boys were removed. They were allowed to sit for their final exams, though, and Gustav passed. Flaubert was sent on a trip to the Mediterranean as a reward.

[Holly Frey]

Yeah, he went with, like, a family friend, and it was a two month trip. Just before his 20th birthday, Flaubert began studying law in Paris. He did not find Paris to his liking, and he didn't really want to be a lawyer. He had known from the time that he learned to read and write that what he wanted was to be a writer. But his parents wanted him to study for some sort of vocation. He went along with this, although he said, even if I graduate, I'm not going to study, I'm not going to practice law. So whatever, I'm placating you. But by the time Flaubert was 22, he was actually having a lot of difficulties with his law studies, and he started having some pretty frightening health issues. He had a seizure one night in January 1844, while he was riding in a carriage with his brother and. And they went to his father's house, where he had several more. Years later, he wrote about these attacks this way. Quote, each attack was like a hemorrhage of the nervous system. Seminal losses from the pictorial faculty of the brain. A hundred thousand images cavorting at once in a kind of fireworks. It was a snatching of the soul from the body. Excruciating. I am convinced I died several times. But what constitutes the personality? The rational essence was present throughout. Had it not been, the suffering would have been nothing, for I would have been purely passive, whereas I was always conscious, even when I could no longer speak. Thus my soul was turned back entirely on itself, like a hedgehog wounding itself with its own quills.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Because this started at a time in his life when he was very stressed, it has sometimes been reported as sort of a nervous breakdown, although other reads of the situation specifically say he had epilepsy. According to a letter he wrote to his friend Le Poitevin, he was bled in three places at once before he regained consciousness. But writing to his friend about what had happened, Flaubert was really astonishingly upbeat. After mentioning that he was being sent to the seashore for arrest, he notes that he must sound boring, but that if he's going to have old men's illnesses, quote, I must be allowed to drivel on the way they do. He did try to return to school in Paris briefly, but then he had another seizure, which sent him back home to Rouen and ended his law study. His father purchased a home in Croisset, outside of Rouen, so he could live at a more peaceful place. At this point, it seemed like he would be just taken care of by a paid staff. The, you know, family had wealth. They could afford to do that, and that would be the case for the rest of his life, but it also meant that he could turn his attention entirely to writing.

[Holly Frey]

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[Mind Games Podcast Narrator]

Can you hypnotize someone into sleeping with you?

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I gave her some suggestions to be sexually aroused.

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[Holly Frey]

A recurrent aspect of Flaubert's work is that he would often revisit earlier writing to try to make use of it by editing it and shaping it into something better. And this began right away, early in this phase of life, where he started to write in earnest. Most of us who did any writing in our teens probably consider that work to be juvenile and not worth our time if we did not set it on fire or throw it out. But that is not how it worked for Gustave Lobert. Recall that first manuscript that we talked about that he wrote about the older woman he had fixated on. He took that character of the older woman and his fixation, and he retooled them into a new work called November, which also was not published. One of the things he is notorious about is being a perfectionist. He did not want anyone to see any of his works until he was 100% happy. He often recopied them over and over, editing as he went. But he then adapted the story again to drop it into a larger narrative about the French Revolution that was titled l' Education Sentimentale. But though he finished the first version of that in the early 1840s, it would be more than 20 years before he revised it again and finally published it. And this kind of ongoing revision was something he did throughout his life. And as we'll see, near the end of his life, he sometimes went way back to work that one might not even consider that useful for such a thing.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

At the beginning of 1846, Flaubert's father died. Then, just two months after he lost his father, his sister Caroline, who was only 21, died. She had spent two months having complications from childbirth before her death. Gustav and his sister were very close, so this lost just devastated him. He decided to raise her daughter. So he took the baby and his widowed mother to live in his home in Croiset.

[Holly Frey]

Yeah, his niece was also named Caroline, so there's a lot of Carolines in this story. The same year that all of those losses and life changes played out, Flaubert also met the poet Louise Collet when he was visiting Paris. He was actually in Paris to have a sculpture made of his sister and was carrying her death mask to do it. And when he went to visit the sculptor, he meets Louise, and the two of them began a very intense affair which lasted eight years. She was married. Her husband, musician Hippolyte Collet, was still alive. For the first five years of this affair, Louise had married him to get away from life in the country and to move to Paris. But once she was in Paris, she was definitely not monogamous, and Flaubert was not her first affair. The relationship between Louise Collet and Gustave Flaubert was tempestuous. And at one point, they did stop seeing each other completely, kind of in the middle of their relationship. But they were soon together again.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

He spent a lot of time with his close friend Maxime du Camp. The two men went on a walking tour together through the Loire Valley and along the coast of Brittany. The Journal that Flaubert wrote during their days is considered by some to be some of his finest work. It was not published in his lifetime, but after his death with the title Parle champs et par le grave, which is Through Fields and along shores.

[Holly Frey]

In 1849, Flaubert, his friend du Camp, and another friend, poet Louis Boyer, met up so that Flaubert could read the other two a novel that he had been working on, and he read it aloud to them over the course of several days. A reported 32 hours of reading, and the reception to this was not good. His friends are described as being just utterly brutal in their criticism. He was in fact advised to throw the whole thing in the fire and never speak of it again. This was the first time he had shared his novel writing with anyone, and although it must have been incredibly painful to have his two close friends very harshly criticize it, he and Dukamp remained very close. The two young men actually went on a tour of Europe and Northern Africa right after this. Flaubert is said to have come home from that trip with syphilis, which he got while visiting a brothel abroad.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Flaubert's next project was the work that would eventually become Madame Bovary. It too had roots in earlier writing, including a piece from 1837 called Passion and Virtue. There appear to have been a lot of influences that went into the creation of the character of Emma Bovary, and different accounts of the author's life and work will cite one or another, or sometimes multiple. For instance, Flaubert is said to have been pointed at the true story of Dr. Eugene Delamare and his wife, Veronique Delphine Couturier. Veronique was bored by her life as the spouse of a country physician, and she engaged in a life of debauchery and infidelity, which ultimately consumed her until her death by suicide in her mid-20s. This is really close to the Madame Bovary story, but there are other similar stories that Flaubert also knew some of personal acquaintances of women who found their bourgeois lives stultifying and who longed for more and sought out affairs to try to bring a spark into their lives they had been longing for.

[Holly Frey]

As for Flaubert, he always told anyone who asked who Madame Bovary was based on that it was himself famously quoted almost everywhere you can find as Madame Bovary, c' est moi. And the truth is that his most famous character is probably an amalgam of all of these things, as there are pretty keen parallels to all of them within the story. In terms of details, there were women he knew and knew about who found that the life of a wife was far less romantic than the books they had read growing up were leading them to believe. And Eugene Delamare is said to have been one of Flaubert's father's students. So there may have been a personal connection to that story. And like his heroine, Flaubert lived a life where the main male figure he knew was a doctor, and the young Gustav found the average life around him in that scenario lacking in originality and stimulus. But also, who among us has not had that similar feeling at some point in their lives? Right. That really does explain the appeal of this novel story. A lot of people can relate to Emma's longing. Flaubert himself wrote that there were people just like Emma Bovary crying throughout France. He also wrote to Louise Collet in 1852, quote, if my book is good, it will gently caress many a feminine wound. More than one woman will smile as she recognizes herself in it. Incidentally, as he was working on the novel in 1855, he broke off his affair with Louise Collet for the last time after a period where the two were clearly falling apart. They had a lot of conflict. His friends were getting involved. He wrote her a very definitive letter on March 6, 1855, which read in its entirety. Madame, I was told that you took the trouble to come here to see me three times last evening. I was not in. And fearing lest persistence expose you to humiliation, I am bound by the rules of politeness to warn you that I shall never be.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

In the story of Madame Bovary, extremely briefly, is that the main character, Emma, who has spent her teenage years in a convent school, is married off to Charles Bovary, a country doctor who cares for her but is not exactly passionate. She's grown up reading romance novels. She believes she's about to start the life she has always dreamed of, only to find that her days are dull and filled with ennui. She starts trying to find ways to bring more excitement into her life, while simultaneously pushing her husband to pursue a practice in the city of Rouen. This begins with reckless spending. A merchant named Lheureux, named a bit ham fistedly, offers her a wide array of expensive luxuries on credit. As she starts getting a taste of the finer life, she also starts cheating on her husband, looking unsuccessfully for the thrilling romance she's always been looking for. In every instance, the men she turns to let her down in her dealings with both the merchant and her lovers, she's left used by them. But though the reader may initially identify with this longing that she has. She's revealed not to be a romantic figure caged in social mores, but a selfish and shallow person whose actions hurt the people around her. The book does not end well for her. The coda of this novel is purposely unsatisfying, showing the undeserving as being rewarded and that life is not fair or just.

[Holly Frey]

As Flaubert was working on the book, his friend Maxime du Camp had become a member of the Revue de Paris, and he encouraged Flaubert to publish his new story in the literary journal in installments. And once Flaubert was ready, he did so under the title Madame Bovary Meurs de Provence, beginning on October 1, 1856. As we mentioned in our recent episode on Theophile Steinlen, France was going through cycles in which its laws regarding the press would tighten and then relax. But by the time the last installment of Madame Bovary appeared in the Revue de Paris on December 15, Flaubert was in the sights of the French government. His story was accused of being blasphemous and of offending public morals. The formal charge was having committed the misdemeanor of an outrage against public and religious morals and established customs. There's actually an interesting element to this in that the Review de Paris had actually edited out one of the steamier parts of the book because they were afraid of being shut down or punished if they ran it. The author had told the editors that if something had to be suppressed, which he wasn't wild about, he wanted that to be noted on the page, and they acquiesced. So there was a note on that page that read, quote, the directors have seen the necessity of suppressing a passage here which did not seem fitting to the Revue de Paris. We give notice of it to the author. Had the original version run, things may have been even more problematic for Gustav Flaubert.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

The trial was set for January 29, 1857. On January 20, Gustav wrote a letter to his brother Akil with an absolutely delicious passage that gives a great insight into where his head was at with this quote, the police have blundered. They thought they were attacking a run of the mill novel and some ordinary little scribbler. Whereas now, in part thanks to the prosecution, my novel is looked on as a masterpiece. And for the author, he has for defenders a number of what used to be called grand dams. The Empress, among others, has twice spoken in my favor. The Emperor said the first time they should leave him alone. And despite all that, the case was taken up again. Why There begins the mystery. While waiting, I am preparing my statement, which is simply my novel itself. But I am cramming the margins next to the incriminated passages with embarrassing quotations drawn from the classics to show, by means of that simple parallel, that for the last 300 years there hasn't been a line in French literature that couldn't be indicted as undermining morality and religion. Have no fear, I shall be quite calm. As for not appearing at the trial, that would be a retreat. I shan't say anything, but will stand next to Synrad, who will need me there. Besides, I can't afford not to display my criminal countenance to the populace. No notes.

[Holly Frey]

That's a great letter. We will get to the details of the one day trial after we hear from the sponsors that keep the show going. The lead prosecutor in the Madame Bovary case, Ernest Pinau, opened the proceedings and he talked for a very long time. He explained early on that that was going to be the case and why. Stating, quote, the difficulty is not in arousing a prejudice, it is far more in explaining the work of which you are to judge. It deals entirely with romance. If it were a newspaper article which we were bringing before you, it could be seen at once where the fault began and where it ended. It would simply be read by the Ministry and submitted to you for judgment. Here we are not concerned with a newspaper article, but entirely with a romance which begins 1st October, finishes 15th December and is composed of six numbers in the Revue de Paris, 1856. What is to be done in such a case? What is the duty of the Public Ministry? To read the whole romance. That is impossible. On the other hand, to read only the incriminating texts would expose us to deep reproach. They could say to us, if you do not show the case in all its parts, if you pass over that which precedes and that which follows the incriminating passages, it is evident that you wish to suppress the debate by restricting the ground of discussion. In order to avoid this twofold difficulty, there is but one course to follow, and that is to relate to you the whole story of the romance without reading any of it or pointing out any incriminating passage, then to cite incriminating texts, and finally to answer the objections that may arise against the general method of indictment.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

So Bernard then began to tell the entire story of Madame Bovary in an English language translation. It took almost 7,000 words, so probably around 50 minutes to an hour when spoken aloud. When he was done, he stated that the book glorified adultery and insulted religion. Did not seem to matter to him that Emma Bovary gets serious comeuppance in the book. No moral lesson could validate the offending passages. Panard then pointed the finger at Flaubert and his publisher. Quote, you have before you, gentlemen, three guilty ones. Monsieur Flaubert, the author of the book, Monsieur Pichat, who accepted it, and Monsieur Pillet, who printed it. In this matter, there is no misdemeanor without publicity, and all those concerned in the publicity should be equally blamed. But we hasten to say that the manager of the review and the printer are only in the second rank. The principal offender is the author, Monsieur Flaubert. Monsieur Flaubert, who, admonished by a note from his editor, protested against the suppression which had been made in his work.

[Holly Frey]

The opening of the defense by Flaubert's attorney, Monsieur Senard, began. Quote, Gentlemen, Monsieur Gustave Flaubert has been accused before you of making a bad book, of having, in this book, outraged public morals and religion. Monsieur Gustave Flaubert is beside me and affirms before you that he has made an honest book. He affirms before you that the thought in his book, from the first line to the last, is a moral thought, and that if it were not perverted, and you have seen during the last hour how great a talent one may have for perverting a thought, it would be and will become again presently for you, as it has been already for the readers of the book, an eminently moral and religious thought capable of being translated into these words the excitation of virtue through the horror of vice.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

The rest of the defense invoked the good name of the Flaubert family and Gustav's serious and thoughtful nature. But it also managed to get some misogyny into the mix by showing that Flaubert was warning against women trying to rise above their station in life. Quote. I have here stated that Monsieur Flaubert wished to paint a woman who, instead of trying to adapt herself to the conditions in which she was placed to her position and her birth, instead of seeking to make herself a part of the life to which she belonged, was occupied with a thousand foreign aspirations drawn from an education too far above her, instead of accommodating herself to the duties of her position, of being the tranquil wife of a country doctor with whom she should pass her days, in place of seeking her happiness and her house and her marriage, sought it in interminable fancies.

[Holly Frey]

Yeah. In case it's not obvious from that passage what he's getting at is this is a woman who had a little too much education, and that's dangerous.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah. She should not have wanted things.

[Holly Frey]

Don't want things. Don't learn things that might make you want a life other than your own. Senard insisted on reading the portion of the story that had been cut by the editors. If you've read the book, you know which one this is. It's a scene in which Madame Bovary and her lover are having a clandestine sexual meeting in a carriage as the driver is instructed to continue to drive around. And this particular passage he wanted to read because it concludes with the line quote, in her heart, she felt already that cowardly docility that is for some women at once the chastisement and atonement of adultery. And Senard drew attention to that line.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

One of the reasons this is so funny to me is that when I was in college and we studied this book, our whole class did not really grasp, like, how.

[Holly Frey]

What was happening in the carriage.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah. And so the professor, like, read it out loud to us, dramatically intoning the important bits.

[Holly Frey]

Yeah. We similar. But I read it in high school, and I don't remember whether it was me or one of my friends that was trying to explain it to kids that were not getting it. That was like, if this carriage is a rocket.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Right. Yeah. So the defense also appealed to the court on the basis of the way Charles Bovary is represented in the books denouement, declaring, quote, there is not a man who, having read this, would not say that Monsieur Flaubert is not only a great artist, but a man of heart for having in the last six pages turned all the horror and scorn upon the woman and all the interest towards the husband. He is a great artist, as has been said, because he has left the husband as he was. He has not transformed him. And to the end, he is the same good man, commonplace, mediocre, full of the duties of his profession, loving his wife well, but destitute of education or elevation of thought. He is the same at the deathbed of his wife. And nevertheless, there is not an individual to whom the memory returns with more interest. Why? Because he has kept to the end his simplicity and uprightness of heart. Because to the end he has fulfilled his duty while his wife was led astray.

[Holly Frey]

So here's the important point that I would just personally like to make regarding the way this book was both attacked and defended, because it's always made me a little bit irate. All of the firestorm around it regarding morality was based on the idea that the wife of an upstanding husband would dare to commit adultery. There is never ever introduced in any of this discussion any moral red flag regarding the male characters who were perfectly happy to seduce Emma Bovary, even though they knew she was married and in fact had social relationships with her husband. All of the blame and shame is given to the woman, Madame Bovary.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Though the court proceedings were brief, Flaubert and his publisher waited a week for the verdict. It's lengthy. We're not going to try to read the whole thing, but the ending reads, quote, be it known that the work of which Flaubert is the author is a work which appears to be long and seriously elaborated from a literary point of view as a study of character. That the passages coming under the ordinance for dismissal, as reprehensible as they may be, are few in number as compared with the extent of the work. That these passages, either in the ideas they expose or in the situations they represent, bring out as a whole the characters which the author wished to paint, Although exaggerated and impregnated with a vulgar realism often shocking. That Gustave Flaubert affirms his respect for good manners and all that attaches itself to religious morals. That it does not appear that his book has been written, like certain other books, with the sole aim of giving satisfaction to the sensual passions, to a spirit of license and debauch, or of ridiculing things which should be held in the respect of all that he has done wrong, only in losing sight of the rules which every writer who respects himself ought never to lose sight of or forget. That literature, like art, in order to accomplish the good which it is expected to produce, ought only to be chaste and pure in its form and expression. In the circumstances, be it known that it is not sufficiently proven that Pichat, Gustave Flaubert and Pillay are guilty of the misdemeanor with which they are charged, the court acquits them of the indictment brought against them and decrees a dismissal without cost.

[Holly Frey]

So the court had, as Flaubert predicted, found him innocent. Madame Bovary was printed as a two volume novel just a few months later, in April of 1857, and it was an instant bestseller. Had the French government not accused Flaubert of immorality, it probably never would have gained that level of popularity.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Following on the runaway success of Madame Bovary, Flaubert turned back to his pocket project, the temptation of St. Anthony. But as one of the main points of the novel, was a saint tempted by sexual desire, he reconsidered. He did not want to risk another trial.

[Holly Frey]

So he then moved on to working on a historical novel. And this story, titled Salambo, was set in Carthage during the third century, when the mercenary revolt was taking place. This was based on vaguely on the writings of the Greek historian Polybius. But Flaubert created fictional characters and a fictional story that sort of dropped into that historical information. He wasn't rewriting it as a fiction. This book, published in 1862, benefited from the attention that Madame Bovary had drawn to Gustave Flaubert's name. And while it was very different in tone, it was also a bestseller, although it did get some critiques, some of which was hilarious. That was regarding its historical accuracy. But the years in which he was writing Salambo, Gustav once again had some serious health problems. He had a number of seizures, and during some of these, he injured himself as his body collapsed and he hit the ground without a cushion. So he actually had injuries to his head and his arms.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

In 1870, Flaubert finally published L' education sentimentale. But it was not the success that Bovary was. After having worked on it over the course of decades, he was just completely deflated by its poor reception.

[Holly Frey]

And that same year, during France's conflict with Prussia, Flaubert, who was not in great health, was conscripted as a lieutenant in the Rouen Home Guard. As things went very poorly for France in this conflict, Flaubert had Prussian soldiers billeted in his home as 1870 ended, and they stayed there all the way up until spring of 1871. The writer did not stay at his home during this time. He went to Dieppe, where he lived with his then adult niece. This was merely the beginning of a very rough period for Flaubert. In 1872, his mother died. It was expected that he would inherit the Croisset home, but his mother had, as a surprise to everyone, willed it instead to his niece Caroline. And Caroline allowed him to remain in the home. But that was not an automatic situation. It took a whole lot of discussion to settle the matter, to the point where that was okay.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

In 1874, he published the temptation of St. Anthony. This was yet another instance of a book that he wrote many times in different versions, before he was happy enough with it to publish. It was inspired by a visit to Italy in which he saw one of the many paintings of this biblical story. His earliest version of it actually began in the late 1930s, before he saw the painting. At that time, he was endeavoring to create a Faustian novel. But then he incorporated that work into his St. Anthony story in the late 1840s. Then he put it aside. That was the novel that his friends had mocked when they were all traveling together in 1849. He didn't revisit it until the late 1850s, when he wrote a third version. And then finally, he went back a fourth time and landed at the one that he published in the 1870s. These evolutions reflected Flaubert's changing attitudes toward religion and science.

[Holly Frey]

Yeah, one of those times was the moment Tracy mentioned earlier, where after Madame Bovary, he was like, I'm going to go back to St. Anthony. Wait, no, that will really get me arrested again. Um. In his later years, Flaubert really struggled financially. He had used up his personal fortune to help Caroline's husband, Ernest Comaville, get out of debt when his company failed. This was a lot of money. It has been reported to have been close to a million francs. So a very serious sum. Flaubert had had to sell off a lot of real estate to make up that amount of money, and the whole thing had left him without enough money personally to keep his home croisset heated when it was cold. So in the winter, he moved to

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Paris to try to generate income. He turned to one of his oldest pieces of writing, and that was his catalog of cliches. This was eventually reworked into a novel titled Bouvard and Pekuchet, about two clerks who come into money and move to the country to retire and indulge their curiosity with extreme experiments in various endeavors. While they know plenty of axioms and popular ideas about the workings of the world, they lack the judgment and critical thinking to actually do or understand anything with any depth. Their experiments in farming, gardening, medicine, and science are all failures, and eventually they go back to clerking. This is a satire on pretense and the middle class, but in a way that shows that the author actually has a great deal of love for these bumbling protagonists.

[Holly Frey]

Yeah, that list of cliches he started as a teenager came in handy because he could just slot those right in. While he was working on Bouvard and Pekuchet, Flaubert published Instead, he kind of paused working on that and published a trio of short stories. He was hoping that that work would move a little more quickly and that he could generate some money. These were published in the spring of 1877, and after that, he immediately returned to work on Bouvard and Pecochet.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Flaubert was back at Croisset for the warmer months. In the spring of 1880, on April 20, he wrote to his niece, quote, 10 days from now will I have reached the point I'd like to attain before leaving my dear old Croisset? I doubt it. And when will the book be finished? That's the question. If it's to appear in winter, I haven't a minute to lose between now and then. But there are moments when I feel I'm liquefying like an old Camembert. I'm so tired.

[Holly Frey]

And ten days later, on May 8th, Flaubert suddenly died. He was literally in the middle of a page of writing when he had a stroke. He was working on Bouvert and Pecochet. It was not finished. He was buried in Rouen.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

This unfinished novel was published the following year. The reviews were not great, and debates and analysis about how critics interpreted the work versus what the writer intended with it continue all the way to today.

[Holly Frey]

Oh, Gustave Lobert, I can't wait for Friday discussion. Okay, but in the meantime I have a cool sewing email.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I'm so excited.

[Holly Frey]

I love a little sewing email. This is from our listener Barbara, who writes hello Holly and Tracy. I've been listening for years and usually can listen to two episodes during my commute, one on the way in and one on the way home. However, I currently have a backlog as I was off for maternity leave and I'm slowly making my way through. Congratulations by the way. The new to me two parter about paper patterns inspired me to write in When I lived in Congo, wax print fabric, the history of which would make a great episode, was commonly given as presents for birthdays, weddings, Women's day, very popular, etc. But also different communities would create special prints for events, for example the anniversary of a church, university or other organization. Women and men who were part of the community would have outfits made from the special fabric. For this event I have many outfits from my years of living there and all were made for me by various tailors, couturiers as they were called. These women would come to my house, take my measurements and I would show them a picture of what style I wanted. About a week later they would come back with an outfit that would then get fitted and adjusted. Within two weeks, or sometimes less, I had a completely customized garment. I didn't fully appreciate the skill that it took to make a garment based off a photo with no pattern. But now I'm in awe and incredibly grateful for my beautiful clothes. I also wish that more of them fit me, but postpartum plus an American diet means that I have to admire many of them as they hang in my closet instead of wearing them out My husband is Congolese and my in laws have continued to give me various bolts of fabric. So now that we have a baby, I've been wanting to make some customized clothes for him to represent his heritage. However, I have basic sewing skills and a second hand machine that I haven't figured out how to thread yet so it'll be a minute before that happens. Anyway, thanks for the entertainment on the ride and the inspiration to break out the sewing machine and then includes some cool potential future episodes and writes thanks for all you do in helping shed light on some little known but fascinating topics. All the best Barbara. I love everything about the seat mail. I love the idea of like community fabric designs. I love the idea of custom designs custom fabric prints made for given events. I love to design fabrics so this is one of my favorite topics in the whole world. And I love love love Barbara that you are starting to delve into se yourself. Listen, I have great news. Sewing is not secret. You can learn all these things. It might take time and patience, but you'll learn and you'll get better and better and then your kid will have amazing clothes and I can't wait. And I hope as you develop as a stitcher you share some of those pictures of some of those projects with us. Also, ditto goes for your beautiful clothes that you had made that maybe don't fit anymore. Listen, fabric can get reworked in a lot of interesting ways. I'm just saying once your creativity pops off in this way, then you're in trouble because you have so many things that you want to do. But I love this so much and I, I just, I. I love the idea of community and marking important events with fabric. Like to me, that's just perfect. Perfect. So thank you for sharing this with us. And like I said, I want pictures as you go and if you have any sewing questions, send us another email. I'll help if I can. We absolutely love hearing from our listeners, so if you would like to write to us, you can do so at history podcast iheartradio.com we will have a brand new episode on Monday. You can also expect a classic episode tomorrow.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Stuff youf Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.