The family idiot : Gustave Flaubert, 1821-1857 / Jean-Paul Sartre ; translated by Carol Cosman.

Translation of: L'Idiot de la famille.

Includes bibliographical references.

Volume 1: -- Part 1. Constitution : -- 1. A problem -- 2. The father -- 3. The mother -- 4. The elder brother -- 5. The birth of a younger son -- 6. Father and son -- 7. Two ideologies -- Volume 2: -- Part 2. Personalization : -- Book 1. "What is Beauty if not the impossible?" : -- 8. The imaginary child -- 9. From imaginary child to actor -- 10. From actor to author -- 11. Scripta manent -- 12. From poet to artist -- Volume 3: -- Book 2. School years : -- 13. From legend to Role: The "Garcon" -- A. Structure -- B. History as Psychodrama -- 14. From poet to Artist -- A. Literary disappointment (1838-1840) -- B. Taking up a profession -- Volume 4: -- Part 3. Elbehnon, or the Last spiral : -- Book 1. The "fall" seen as immediate, negative, and tactical response to an emergency : -- 15. The event -- 16. Gustave's diagnosis -- 17. Neurosis as response-Book Two: The crisis seen as a positive strategy in the light of subsequent facts -- 18. "Loser Wins" rationalized -- 19. The real meaning of "lower wins" -- Volume 5: -- Book 1. objective neurosis: : -- 20. The problem -- 21. The objective spirit -- 22. The literary situation of the postromantic apprentice author -- Book 2. neurosis and programming in Flaubert: the second empire

"That Sartre's study of Flaubert, The Family Idiot, is a towering achievement in intellectual history has never been disputed. Yet critics have argued about the precise nature of this novel, or biography, or "criticism-fiction" which is the summation of Sartre's philosophical, social, and literary thought. Sartre writes, simply, in the preface to the book: "The Family Idiot is the sequel to The Question of Method. The subject: what, at this point in time, can we know about a man? It seemed to me that this question could only be answered by studying a specific case." "A man is never an individual," Sartre writes, "it would be more fitting to call him a universal singular. Summed up and for this reason universalized by his epoch, he in turn resumes it by reproducing himself in it as singularity. Universal by the singular universality of human history, singular by the universalizing singularity of his projects, he requires simultaneous examination from both ends." This is the method by which Sartre examines Flaubert and the society in which he existed. Now this masterpiece is being made available in an inspired English translation that captures all the variations of Sartre's style--from the jaunty to the ponderous--and all the nuances of even the most difficult ideas. Volume 1 consists of Part One of the original French work, La Constitution, and is primarily concerned with Flaubert's childhood and adolescence."--Publisher description.

Translation of: L'idiot de la famille.

Machine converted from AACR2 source record.