Herodias

Flaubert, Gustave, 1821-1880Project Gutenberg · United StatesMar 2023

3.8

Word count: 78K words
Chapters: 8

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.Herodias by Gustave FlaubertAuthor: Flaubert, Gustave, 1821-1880,Language: English, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Feb 11, 2006

Editor's review

Herodias is a representative late short story by Flaubert, drawn from the famous biblical passage of the death of John the Baptist and Salome's dance. Yet it is not written as a religious tale: through archaeological detail, cool restraint, and almost stage-like scene management, it compresses court intrigue, lust for power, and religious fanaticism into a single night within a fortress. Flaubert's signature free indirect style and precise sensory description are on full display: the gamey smell of the feast, the smoke of torches, the chill of stone steps are all rendered as tangible material experience. For Chinese readers, this work serves both as a short entry into Flaubert's narrative art and as a sample for understanding how a nineteenth-century French writer rewrote the ancient East. It is brief enough to read in one or two evenings; returning to the severed head presented at the end will deepen one's appreciation of Flaubert's cool method of turning legend into material fact.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Chinese readers who want a short introduction to Flaubert's narrative style
Readers interested in biblical rewritings and nineteenth-century French literature
Readers who enjoy cool, restrained classical short stories dense with detail
Foreign literature students using it as a text for studying Flaubert's short fiction

Not a good fit for

Readers of popular fiction expecting fast-paced, eventful plots
Those who prefer warm or morally edifying themes and are uncomfortable with gloomy intrigue
Readers seeking Flaubert's major novels rather than his short stories

Reading tips

Read it once without checking background first, to feel the scene's progression and the impact of the ending; then go back and sort out the characters' relationships.
Readers unfamiliar with the biblical story of John the Baptist and Herodias may wish to read a brief summary before entering the text.
Pay attention to Flaubert's descriptions of smell, light, and the body; treat these details as an entry point for understanding power and desire.
After reading, compare it with Wilde's Salome to see how different writers handle the same subject.

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

What is the relationship between this story and the Bible?

The work is drawn from the biblical passage in which Salome, daughter of Herodias, dances and John the Baptist is beheaded. But Flaubert does not write a religious sermon; he rewrites the subject with the material detail and cool narration of historical fiction, reducing mythological figures to concrete players in a court power struggle.

Can I read this without having read Flaubert's novels?

Yes. It is short and tightly structured, a convenient entry into Flaubert's narrative art. However, it is dense with detail and restrained in narration, so a first reading may feel slow; it is best to read one complete scene with full attention, then return to appreciate the technique.

What background knowledge should I prepare?

A basic outline of the story of John the Baptist and Herodias is enough to follow the plot. For a deeper reading, note how nineteenth-century French literature imagined the ancient East, and how Flaubert uses sensory detail and free indirect style.

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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.