November (1842)

An intense, passionate, and profoundly moving work, Flaubert's November explores the notions of desire and longing to most remarkable effect. Wrestling with the agony of loneliness, a young man withdraws deeper into himself, believing he has now reached the autumn of his life. His increasing hopelessness gives way to a yearning for romance—surely the love of a woman can deliver him the purpose he so craves? Convinced of the truth of this, he visits Marie, a kindhearted prostitute—yet Marie, too, is starved of love and longs for acceptance. Together, they form a tragic portrait of personal anguish, heralding the extraordinary outpouring of romantic longing found in Flaubert’s later novels. Most famous for Madame Bovary and Sentimental Education: The Story of a Young Man, Gustave Flaubert is one of the undisputed masters of 19th-century fiction.