Reputation, French Literary Life Has Always Been More Politized Than It Was Here

When i was first starting my lifetime's reading of flaubert, his reputation was probably at its lowest point since his death. The notion that anything the reactionary esthete de goncourt might have said could have caused any one to think again about minimizing post commune repression is fantastical. He never made a public political statement in his life. This was not how he viewed the writer's task. By knowing humanity and describing it with truth, you may change the way it sees itself,. But if given the choice, i'd much rather write and read the latter. And i haven't asked myself whether he would be amused or annoyed by this article.