Gustave Flaubert was born on December 12, 1821 in Rouen, France.
He was educated in his hometown until he left for Paris to study law in 1840.
His first published work, Madame Bovary, was serialized the Revue de Paris in 1856.
Flaubert and the publisher were immediately put on trial in January of 1857 by public prosecutors on the grounds of obscenity and immorality.
After a month of deliberation, Flaubert was acquitted on February 7, 1857, and the book published in April became an instant bestseller.
Salammbô (1862) and L’Éducation Sentimentale (1869) were the only other complete novels Flaubert would write before his death in 1880.
Flaubert was known for his meticulous approach to writing; he claimed to always be looking for “le mot juste,” or “the right word.”
He was widely acknowledged as the most influential French realist at the time of his death, with writers such as Guy de Maupassant, Edmond de Goncourt, and Emile Zola.
