SOURCE: "Flaubert and the Temptation of the Subject," in Nineteenth-Century French Studies, Vol. 12, No. 3, Spring, 1984, pp. 280-96.

In the following essay, Brombert discusses the concept of the literary subject in Flaubert's works and refutes critical "distortions" and "overstatements" which view Flaubert "not only as the direct ancestor of the nouveau roman, but as one of the fathers of literary 'modernity'. " Brombert argues against applying specific theoretical systems of poetics to Flaubert's works.

—Les plus grands . . . reproduisent l'Univers.

—Oh! les sujets, comme il y en a.

From Constantinople, during his travels in search of near-Eastern exotica, Flaubert announced to his friend Louis Bouilhet that he has found three literary subjects: a night of Don Juan that would blend worldly and mystical love; the story of Anubis, the woman who wanted to be embraced by a god; the life of a young Flemish virgin who vegetates, dreams, and masturbates in...