To open this volume of Gustave Flaubert's letters is to be immediately transported into his world. Any reader should find here something of interest, whether it be the intimate revelations of an original mind, the rich portrait of a time and place or the linguistic and stylistic brilliance of a great writer.

We learn of the young Flaubert, unhappy at school, tormented as a lover. We travel with him to the temples and brothels of Egypt; to Palestine, Turkey, and then later to Tunisia. We witness the genesis of some of the most remarkable literature of the nineteenth century, and even settle down with him, at last, to a cultured and financially insecure old age.

Selected and translated by Francis Steegmuller with keen intelligence, and carefully enhanced by essential footnotes, this edition is both a perfect companion and an enticing introduction to Flaubert's work.

`Rapid, picturesque, frequently obscene, the letters overflow with life and energy, delight and disgust perpetually trembling in the balance' The Times

`A model: adroit choice of text, supple translation with captures Flaubert's kaleidoscopic shifts of temperament and language, deft editorial links. The result, surprisingly but arguably, is the best biography of Flaubert that currently exists'Julian Barnes, Independent

`The translation could not have been undertaken by a more qualified and gifted person . . . Steegmuller's rendering of Flaubert's letters is easy-flowing and captures their flavour . . . And Steegmuller's taste and precision - his sense of style - would have pleased Flaubert' Times Literary Supplement