Flaubert - Sentimental Education

I want to write the moral history of the men of my generation&;or more accurately the history of their feelings declared Gustave Flaubert who envisioned a book about love about passion; but passion such as can exist nowadays&;that is to say inactive. First published in 1869 this novel fulfills Flaubert's conception with a realistic ironic portrait of bourgeois lives played out against France's tumultuous revolution of 1848 and the founding of its Second Empire.Frédéric Moreau a law student in Paris dreams of achieving success in art business journalism and politics. His aspirations take a romantic turn upon a chance encounter with a married woman who inspires a lifelong obsession. Frédéric befriends his idol's husband an influential art dealer and quickly finds himself seduced by society life&;and bedeviled by financial problems ideological conflicts and betrayals of trust. Blending romance historical authenticity and satire Flaubert's Sentimental Education ranks among the nineteenth century's great novels.