قصة الكتاب :
Sentimental Education is a novel by Gustave Flaubert published in French in 1869 as L’Éducation sentimentale: histoire d’un jeune homme. It was considered as one of the most influential novels of the 19th century. The story is based on Flaubert’s own passion for an older woman and he described it as the moral history of the men of his generation. It follows the romantic adventures of the young Frédéric Moreau at the time of the French revolution of 1848. The novel blends love story with historical authenticity and satire, and is regarded as one of the great French novels of the nineteenth century.

\r\nFrédéric Moreau, the protagonist, is a law student who, upon returning home to Normandy from Paris notices Mme Arnoux, a slender and dark woman who is several years older than him. This is the start of an infatuation that will last a lifetime. Moreau befriends her husband who is an influential businessmen and as their paths cross and re-cross over the years, Mme Arnoux remains the constant and unattainable love of Moreau’s life. Frédéric’s puppy love for Mme Arnoux is quite steadfast and idealistic at first, as she remains faithful to her frivolous husband. This love of his however ends in disillusionment as do the subsequent passions of his life. He witnesses his youthful ambitions lead to failure and subsequent boredom and his idealistic views of social progress thwarted by disappointments. The tone of the novel is by turns ironic and pessimistic. The main character Frédéric is occasionally seen giving himself over to flights of fancy.

\r\nThe book’s highlight is the manner in which Flaubert has painted an accurate picture of the social and political setting including the Revolution of 1848, the formation of the republic that followed and the mood of the French people caught up in this sea of change. For Flaubert and many of his contemporaries, the utopian aspirations expressed by the people during the French Revolution, before it degenerated into anarchy had been destroyed in 1848. Although a lot of changes had been initiated at the political and educational level, happiness still seemed a little out of reach. Having lived through the events of the time, he saw up close the selfishness and brutality of all of its participants - emotions which he has managed to capture and depict in his book. As he saw, men had simply replaced the earlier vicious gods with new substitutes. Nothing substantial had really changed.

\r\nThe melancholy and bitterness that are embodied in the book can prove to be challenging for the reader. In fact, at the time of initial release it did not receive a favourable response from the readers, although it eventually had a cult following. The book has remained a source of creative inspiration throughout the ages and has been adapted into plays, TV series as well as film. \r\n