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The Family Idiot
L'idiot de la famille: Gustave Flaubert de 1821 à 1857, tome I
«Que peut-on savoir d'un homme aujourd'hui?» Par l'incessant mouvement de la méthode «progressive-régressive», des écrits à l'homme et de l'homme à l'histoire, L'Idiot de la famille traque Flaubert pour reconstituer en totalité compréhensible tout ce qu'on sait de lui. Loin de le réduire à l'état de pur objet d'étude, Sartre, sans indulgence mais presque amical, tourne autour de son sujet jusqu'au vertige, jusqu'au point de compréhension extrême où le biographe, comme étourdi par son propre manège, est bien près de se livrer lui-même. Et néanmoins c'est la subjectivité vivante de Gustave Flaubert que l'on sent restituée, le goût singulier de sa névrose.
1112 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1971
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About the author
Jean-Paul Sartre
1,096 books13k followersJean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th-century French philosophy and Marxism. Sartre was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology). His work has influenced sociology, critical theory, post-colonial theory, and literary studies. He was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature despite attempting to refuse it, saying that he always declined official honors and that "a writer should not allow himself to be turned into an institution."
Sartre held an open relationship with prominent feminist and fellow existentialist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir. Together, Sartre and de Beauvoir challenged the cultural and social assumptions and expectations of their upbringings, which they considered bourgeois, in both lifestyles and thought. The conflict between oppressive, spiritually destructive conformity (mauvaise foi, literally, 'bad faith') and an "authentic" way of "being" became the dominant theme of Sartre's early work, a theme embodied in his principal philosophical work Being and Nothingness (L'Être et le Néant, 1943). Sartre's introduction to his philosophy is his work Existentialism Is a Humanism (L'existentialisme est un humanisme, 1946), originally presented as a lecture.
Sartre held an open relationship with prominent feminist and fellow existentialist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir. Together, Sartre and de Beauvoir challenged the cultural and social assumptions and expectations of their upbringings, which they considered bourgeois, in both lifestyles and thought. The conflict between oppressive, spiritually destructive conformity (mauvaise foi, literally, 'bad faith') and an "authentic" way of "being" became the dominant theme of Sartre's early work, a theme embodied in his principal philosophical work Being and Nothingness (L'Être et le Néant, 1943). Sartre's introduction to his philosophy is his work Existentialism Is a Humanism (L'existentialisme est un humanisme, 1946), originally presented as a lecture.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 9, 2008
Look at me! The best single study of an artist's development ever written, and I'm not even in print! Whee!
January 9, 2024
An existential psychoanalysis of Flaubert which only Sartre could have written. This is the very first volume, which is itself very lengthy and here we to get see Sartre's quite striking ability to make philosophical observations about a great writer—from his family background, early childhood to his adult life. Of course there are so many things which are repeated again and again that most of the readers would definitely get annoyed. But also here and there Sartre wrote so many beautiful lines to explore the hidden depth of Flaubert's mind. So this book(and all the upcoming volumes,which I will definetely read) is only for those who are either big fan of Sartre or Flaubert.
I am also wondering whether this is a biography or a book on existentialism or both. Or just some shiny words written by a writer who wrote it because he couldn’t sleep or he took so much of drugs. I don't know. I just had to read it because I hardly sleep and books are my only drugs. I also feel that Flaubert himself knew someone would dissect his symbolic body,his body of work,himself. He might have provoked other writers to go down and visit his hell. He might have said like one of John Donne's poem:
“Study me then, you who shall lovers be
At the next world, that is, at the next spring: For I am every dead thing, In whom love wrought new alchemy. For his art did express
A quintessence even from nothingness, From dull privations, and lean emptinessHe ruined me, and I am re-begot .
Of absence, darkness, death; things which are not. —”
I am also wondering whether this is a biography or a book on existentialism or both. Or just some shiny words written by a writer who wrote it because he couldn’t sleep or he took so much of drugs. I don't know. I just had to read it because I hardly sleep and books are my only drugs. I also feel that Flaubert himself knew someone would dissect his symbolic body,his body of work,himself. He might have provoked other writers to go down and visit his hell. He might have said like one of John Donne's poem:
“Study me then, you who shall lovers be
At the next world, that is, at the next spring: For I am every dead thing, In whom love wrought new alchemy. For his art did express
A quintessence even from nothingness, From dull privations, and lean emptinessHe ruined me, and I am re-begot .
Of absence, darkness, death; things which are not. —”
June 11, 2011
tres dificile extremement dificile mais geinal
July 21, 2022
Like the last half of Saint Genet, this is beyond tiresome. He only gets the blood moving right in the last 30 or so pages. On to the next!
December 2, 2025
Bir şey itiraf etmem gerek... Gustave bana benziyor. :)))))
Sevdiğim yazarları okurken bunu hep hissederim. O şerefsizim benim aklıma gelmişti hissi, yahu aynı ben deyip durmam. Flaubert'in kendisini okurken de bunu halihazırda hissetmiştim ama Sartre anlatırken oha ya beni anlatıyor dedim. Çok saçma, i know...
Çünkü,
"Gustave tam bir insan değildir."
Biyografi okumaktan nefret ederim neyse ki şurada doğmuş falanlar geçtikten sonra Sartre'ın amacı bugün bir insan hakkında ne bilebiliriz sorusuna yanıt aramak oluyor. Bunun en iyi yolu olarak da somut bir örnek seçiyor: Gustave Flaubert. Amacı, Flaubert hakkında sahip olduğumuz tüm bilgileri bir araya getirip bunların bir bütün oluşturup oluşturamayacağını araştırmak.
Zorlu bir görev ama birinci cildi devirdiysem iki ve üç de sırayla gelecektir bence.
ve unutmamak gerekir ki edebiyat her zaman engellenmiş/yasaklı bir meslek olacaktır.
Sevdiğim yazarları okurken bunu hep hissederim. O şerefsizim benim aklıma gelmişti hissi, yahu aynı ben deyip durmam. Flaubert'in kendisini okurken de bunu halihazırda hissetmiştim ama Sartre anlatırken oha ya beni anlatıyor dedim. Çok saçma, i know...
Çünkü,
"Gustave tam bir insan değildir."
Biyografi okumaktan nefret ederim neyse ki şurada doğmuş falanlar geçtikten sonra Sartre'ın amacı bugün bir insan hakkında ne bilebiliriz sorusuna yanıt aramak oluyor. Bunun en iyi yolu olarak da somut bir örnek seçiyor: Gustave Flaubert. Amacı, Flaubert hakkında sahip olduğumuz tüm bilgileri bir araya getirip bunların bir bütün oluşturup oluşturamayacağını araştırmak.
Zorlu bir görev ama birinci cildi devirdiysem iki ve üç de sırayla gelecektir bence.
ve unutmamak gerekir ki edebiyat her zaman engellenmiş/yasaklı bir meslek olacaktır.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews