Flaubert and his Victorian Critics

Abstract

No French novelist of the nineteenth century, with the possible exception of Balzac, exercised a more important and pervasive influence upon the development of the English novel than did Gustave Flaubert. George, Moore, George Gissing, Henry James, R. L. Stevenson, Joseph Conrad, Arnold Bennett, Somerset Maugham—all these, together with many minor figures, were inspired by Flaubert's ideals of patient observation, stylistic precision and rhythm, and impassive objectivity. For all this, Flaubert had to wait long for any sort of recognition from the English public and critics; and when such recognition came it was strongly mingled with resentment and abuse. It was not until the middle of the last decade of the century that admiration for his achievements attained any degree of unanimity. In this article, I propose to review the course of his English reception up to the close of the Victorian period.