Three Tales

Flaubert, Gustave, 1821-1880Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.5

Word count: 198K words
Chapters: 20

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971, and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today. Drie Vertellingen by Gustave Flaubert. Author: Flaubert, Gustave, 1821-1880. Language: Dutch. Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese. Release Date: September 1, 2005.

Editor's review

This is a collection of three short stories completed by Flaubert in his later years, in a Dutch translation, and is a public-domain ebook. The three stories differ in subject matter, yet all display Flaubert's fine control of narrative pace and detail: he habitually depicts his characters' inner turmoil with a cool, restrained touch, planting turning points of fate within seemingly ordinary daily life. For readers familiar with Madame Bovary, this collection offers a more condensed entry point, showing how he achieves characterisation and emotional resolution within a limited space. The Dutch translation serves well as parallel reading for language learners, and also for studying how Flaubert handles the short-story form. As it is a public-domain electronic text, readers should choose a clearly typeset edition and use notes to understand the nineteenth-century French social background, so as to fully appreciate the depth of the text.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who want a first taste of Flaubert's narrative style through short stories
Learners of Dutch who wish to use a literary text for close reading practice
Enthusiasts studying the short-story form in nineteenth-century French literature
Readers who prefer a cool, restrained tone over strong plot

Not a good fit for

Readers with no Dutch at all and no translation to assist them
Readers expecting fast-paced stories with strong conflict
Beginners who only want to read Flaubert's major novels

Reading tips

Read one story through first to feel the narrative rhythm, then go back and savour the details and dialogue.
If your Dutch is not strong, read it alongside the French original or a Chinese translation.
After each story, take a few minutes to recall the characters' fates and sense what the gaps leave unsaid.
Before reading, briefly acquaint yourself with nineteenth-century French rural and bourgeois life.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Which work of Flaubert's is this book?

It is a collection of three short stories by Flaubert, in a Dutch translation, released by Project Gutenberg. It is a public-domain ebook and serves as an entry point to Flaubert's short fiction, but it is not one of his major novels.

Can I read this book without knowing Dutch?

Reading it directly will be difficult. It is advisable to read it alongside the French original or a Chinese translation, to treat the Dutch text as language-learning material, or to keep it merely for collection and comparison.

Are the three stories connected?

The three stories are independent in subject and have no continuous plot. What they share is Flaubert's characteristic cool touch and fine portrayal of character psychology; they can be read separately, in any order.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Flaubert, Gustave, 1821-1880 Author

Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880) was a French novelist known for his precise, restrained narrative style. His masterpiece Madame Bovary, through the tragedy of Emma, a provincial woman, examines the conflict between ordinary life and romantic illusion; controversial upon publication, it later became a classic of realist literature. Another important work, Trois contes, includes A Simple Heart and other stories, displaying his refined craft and devotion to style and detail. The novel L'Éducation sentimentale uses the experiences of a young man, Frédéric, to reflect the spirit of the era. The library holds thirty-three of his works, including multiple editions of Madame Bovary and portions of his collected works, showing his enduring value for reading and research. Public information is limited, so biographical details are omitted; the above focuses on subject matter, writing style, and literary influence.