Flaubert (1821-80) , the highly influential French novelist and leading exponent of literary realism in his country, completed the first version of this novel which takes the form of a play script in 1849. He spent practically his whole life working on it before publishing the final version in 1874. This English translation is accompanied by numerous illustrations from a French edition by the French symbolist painter, printmaker, draughtsman and pastellist Odilon Redon (1840-1916).