Here's what I wrote about this read in 2008: "It took quite some online reviewing to recall this novel, another set primarily in Paris, including the February 1848 revolts, and considered to accurately describe Parisian mood of the times. Central to the story is a young man's infatuatiof on older, married woman. Considered very fine, and only slightly secondary to Madame Bovary. Probably a good idea to re-read some day." ( )

Protagonist Frédéric Moreau becomes infatuated with an older married woman, Marie Arnoux. Moreau is shallow, self-absorbed, and indecisive. Unable to court Madame Arnoux, he forms relationships with three other women (a mistress, a country girl, and a woman of social standing) but has trouble with commitment. He flits from one to another, always returning to his obsession with Madame Arnoux. He cannot decide on a career, vacillating between writer, painter, poet, politician, and lawyer. He is lucky in inheriting money but finds many ways to squander it. He is always searching for love but rarely finding it.

While Flaubert’s characters are not particularly likeable, with a few exceptions, they are believable. Flaubert indicts the moral vacuity of these characters. He infuses the narrative with a strong sense of irony. Published in 1869 and set in France in the 1840s, it covers a turbulent time in French history when events led to the abdication of Louis-Philippe, rise of the Second Republic, and rule by Napoleon III. Unlike many 19th century novels, the prose is not overly elaborate. I am always looking for opportunities to read about period history from those who lived it. I found it surprisingly relevant to today’s world.

Translated from French by Douglas Parmee
Narration by Jonathan Fried
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https://sravikabodapati.blogspot.com/2022/07/sentimental-education-by-gustave.ht... ( )

A brilliant work--my favorite novel, probably. Read it twice. I especially loved the unrequited love of Frederich throughout the book. A far better novel than Madame Bovary that is always praised for no strong reason. This book is not for everyone, though. The characters are mostly men, struggling through life in their inept ways, going nowhere. But this is more like life then and now. There are no heroes or heroines or climax. Just outstanding literary and poetic writing on every page that will bore some readers looking for action, and others will relish the humor, ironies, lost loves, French details of mid19th century and deadends.
I know about unrequited love and care about Frederich until the last page. ( )

"Sentimental education" doesn’t refer to a schooling that is sentimental, but one that involves the education of the “sentiments,” which to the French meant what are quaintly called affairs of the heart. The protagonist, Frédéric, is the embodiment of a callow, feckless youth, but in the course of the tale, he matures to the point at which he admires himself for the callous rogue he has become, then a rueful middle-aged man who regrets, but is not crushed by, his failures.
His companions are a collection of inept types: A lawyer who can’t win a case, a painter who dithers and dabbles, a journalist who babbles, and an assortment of effete, empty-headed noblemen. At times, I wearied of Flaubert’s pitiless skewering of their pretensions. He began to seem like one of those novelists who doesn’t like any of the people he describes. But as the book draws to a close, there is a sort of reconciliation on the part of Frédéric with what he and his friends have failed to achieve.
Flaubert doesn’t hide the foibles of the women in Frédéric’s life either, yet they come off better than the men. It takes a long time for Frederic to bed one of them. When it happens, it is to the counterpoint of distant gunfire. This is followed by one of the longest chapters in the book. Frederic flees to Fontainbleu with his mistress. Readers used to best-sellers of our day containing twists and turns that cause us to rapidly turn the page as the plot unfolds may grow impatient here, but I thought it was brilliant. An idyll on the old royal stomping grounds while the revolution of 1848 rages in Paris.
I started reading this in the Doris Knowles translation that one can find for free on the internet, or packaged as a book for a price. I quickly put it aside; it was overly literal and awkward. There seem to be at least three recent translations that are better, on the basis of samples I read online, but could find only this one, by Adrienne Tooke, in a Kindle edition. Even here, I had to be careful. On the Amazon page offering the paperback version, there is a link to a Kindle edition, but this turned out to be the Knowles translation. Caveat emptor!
Before long, however, I became curious to compare it with the French original. The large number of vividly drawn personages and their comic actions come across well enough in translation, but I read each chapter a second time, in the Bibliothèque de la Pléiade edition of Flaubert’s works in order to catch the author’s mastery of language. This meant it took me a long time to finish the book, as it takes me nearly three times as long to read French, but it was worth it. A magnificently rich book.
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