A versatile man of letters, Francis Steegmuller has distinguished himself in a variety of literary forms. He has written novels--some of them detective stories, some comic works--as well as short fiction, much of which has appeared in the New Yorker; in 1940 he received the Red Badge Mystery Prize for A Matter of Iodine. As a critic and essayist, he has contributed regularly to the New York Times Book Review and other major periodicals. His 1957 translation of Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary (1856) has become a standard edition, widely used in the classroom. He has also translated Flaubert's letters into English, as well as the letters of other French literary figures. His 1939 critical study of Flaubert's writing of Madame Bovary is still widely available and still an authoritative and useful book. As an editor Steegmuller has shown originality by linking documents and letters together with a lively commentary that transforms what...