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Gustave Faubert Research Paper

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This biography of Gustave Flaubert focuses on Orientalism throughout Flaubert's life and literature. However, instead of showing how Flaubert's life influenced his writing, Gavin Murray-Millar gave insight to how Flaubert's writing influenced his life. The essay is organized into different books Flaubert wrote, which causes events in Flaubert's life to be out of order, but most are marked with dates. He uses many secondary sources and a few primary sources, making the biography a reliable source for major life events in Flaubert's life. Gavin Murray-Miller is a lecturer at Cardiff University, but he received his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia in 2011. He studies primarily French politics in the 1800's as well as colonial North Africa. …show more content…

He was a middle child with an older brother, Achille, and a younger sister, Caroline (Haig). The siblings created a loving environment, despite the fact that they was raised in a hospital (Haig). After growing up with a father who was a doctor, he grew accustomed to the reality of death. Throughout school, he read classic novels, which he enjoyed rewriting as scripts to perform with his siblings and friends (Haig). Eventually, Flaubert enrolled as a law student in 1841 to please his father, but later quit to write. Existentialist ideas appear in his life as he finds his meaning of life in literature and science. This type of thinking is found in his book Madame Bovary. Emma fills her life with whatever desire she feels, trying to find a purpose. Existentialism claims that humans want purpose in life, found by following desire. Flaubert also developed as a perfectionist while his schooling continued. Even though he did not enjoy his studies in law school, he worked hard and achieved scholarly awards for being best in his class during his first year (Haig). However, he failed his second-year exams and began to write Education Sentimentale. When he started his writing career, perfectionism took over the way he wrote. La Tentation de Saint Antoine took Flaubert thirty years to perfect, which he considered his masterpiece (Murray-Miller). Flaubert’s obsession with perfection was evidence of how serious he took his work. His dedication and existentialist way of living contributed to his lifestyle and success as an

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