Gustave Flaubert, one of the representatives of the modern novel, was born in 1831 in Rouen, France. Born as the son of a surgeon, the author had a very happy childhood.
Although he realized his talent when he reached school age, he had a shy and introverted childhood and youth. At the age of 9, he started writing theater plays. He went to the Rouen Gymnasium for 8 years.
Although Gustave Flaubert was known as a lazy and cynical person in his childhood, he suddenly gave himself great work.
He was remembered as an excellent student against the inferiority complex he had experienced throughout his life. He was very interested in literature and history classes.
Gustave Flaubert (12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. He has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country and abroad. According to the literary theorist Cornelius Quassus, "in Flaubert, realism strives for formal perfection, so the presentation of reality tends to be neutral, emphasizing the values and importance of style as an objective method of presenting reality". He is known especially for his debut novel Madame Bovary (1857), his Correspondence, and his scrupulous devotion to his style and aesthetics. The celebrated short story writer Guy de Maupassant was a protégé of Flaubert.
He first made his essays in the school magazine. After graduating from high school, he chose law. During this period, he had his first epilepsy and left school to rest. Leaving Paris and settling in Croisset, he devoted himself exclusively to writing.
Due to his spirit, he always turned his back on profession and marriage. Instead, he took refuge in art and became more connected.
Gustave Flaubert, who spent all his time in his house in Croiset, lost his father and sister one after another. He devoted himself to more work. He traveled to many countries during this period.
The failure of his play, The Candidate, was disappointing. After this failure, he began to work on other writings with greater ambition. He spent almost all of his day writing. His novel, Madame Bovary was completed which took 5 years to complete and began publishing it in the Revue de Paris magazine.
After publication, Gustave Flaubert was brought to justice for his book on Madame Bovary, which was found to be contrary to tradition and morality.
After the trial, he saw the book deserved and after his death, his place in French literature was understood.
Gustave Flaubert thought that art should not be based on self-interest. Many writers in Turkish literature were influenced by Gustave Flaubert's style. Flaubert died of a stroke in 1880.
Gustave Flaubert would carry the effects of his journey to the East, which he embarked on at the age of 28, between 1849-1851, throughout his life. The journey, which starts from France and extends to Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Greece, Italy and of course, Anatolia, Izmir, and Istanbul, takes four and a half months, sometimes on horseback and sometimes on foot. Flaubert, whose travel writings will be published as Journey to the East years later, is like a modern traveler with these texts.
Flaubert set out with the hope of getting away from the cold and boring bourgeois life of Paris and finding the "warmness of the East". In other words, before he sets out, he has an image of the East and Türkiye in his mind. Its East is also a mystical and exotic place with its various quirks. That's why we often come across harems, baths, exotic foods, and drinks in his writings.
However, like almost all Western writers who see the East as an exotic and escape place, Flaubert is disappointed after visiting them. Because deep conflicts arise between the "real East" and the image of the East that the author has constructed in his mind. The exaggerated "imaginary pleasantness" and "fascination" with the East in the minds of Europeans also results in disappointments in Flaubert.