Chapter 11, Louise Colet's Version Summary

Louise Colet tells her story in this chapter. She didn't need Flaubert in her life; she was thirty-five, beautiful, and famous. They met at Pradier's, where she was to sit for the artist. Flaubert was twenty-four and even if she had been looking for a lover, Louise would not have chosen him. But she wasn't looking and she didn't really choose. She was chosen by love. Flaubert was an eager lover, although it was never easy to persuade him to meet her. There was harmony between them. Flaubert was not shy and not narrow in his tastes.

Louise was a complication in Flaubert life in ways that prostitutes were not. She meant the risk of partnership and equality and Flaubert could not risk such things. Flaubert sometimes sent her flowers. Once he sent her a rose from...