SOURCE: Godfrey, Sima. “The Fabrication of Salammbô: The Surface of the Veil.” Modern Language Notes 95, no. 4 (May 1980): 1005-16.

In the following essay, Godfrey examines the lush imagery and the central symbolic role of textiles in Salammbô, particularly addressing Flaubert's treatment of the veil of Tanit.

It is both striking and curious that of the many critics and readers who have tried to identify the peculiar structure and difficult texture of Flaubert's Salammbô, none has considered the fabric of textile imagery so prevalent throughout the novel. Curious for the fact that the major action of this novel centres about the theft (vol) and rape (viol) of a veil (voile) and its retrieval. All the more curious for the fact that ancient Carthage, as depicted by Flaubert is a commercial metropolis whose dominant industry is textile, whose local colour is “pourpre”¹—the product of the large “fabrique” that looms over...