Gustave Flaubert

Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880) was a French novelist renowned for his meticulous prose style and commitment to literary realism. Born in Rouen, he studied law in Paris but left his studies and devoted himself to writing. His most famous novel, *Madame Bovary* (1857), brought him to trial on charges of offending public morality; he was acquitted, and the book became a landmark of modern fiction. Flaubert later published *Salammbô* (1862), *Sentimental Education* (1869), and *Three Tales* (1877). He spent much of his life at Croisset near Rouen and died in 1880.