Bouvard and Pécuchet: A Tragi-comic Novel of Bourgeois Life, part 1

Name: Bouvard and Pécuchet: A Tragi-comic Novel of Bourgeois Life, part 1
Author: Gustave Flaubert

by Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880)

Free to read
5 hours to read
8 chapters
Reading level: 7th grade

"Bouvard and Pécuchet: A Tragi-comic Novel of Bourgeois Life, part 1" by Gustave Flaubert is an unfinished satirical novel published in 1881. Two Parisian copy-clerks meet by chance and become inseparable friends. When one inherits a fortune, they move to the French countryside and embark on an ambitious quest for knowledge. Over years, they attempt to master nearly every field—agriculture, science, literature, philosophy, religion—but each endeavor ends in failure. Their misadventures expose the hidden weaknesses of human understanding while alienating them from their provincial neighbors.

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France · Social life and customs · 19th century
French fiction · Translations into English
Middle class · France · History · 19th century
Middle class · France · Retirement

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Chapter I

KINDRED SOULS.

As there were thirty-three degrees of heat the Boulevard Bourdon was absolutely deserted.

Farther down, the Canal St. Martin, confined by two locks, showed in a straight line its water black as ink. In the middle of it was a boat, filled with timber, and on the bank were two rows of casks.

Beyond the canal, between the houses which separated the timber-yards, the great pure sky was cut up into plates of ultramarine; and under the reverberating light of the sun, the white facades, the slate roofs, and the granite wharves glowed dazzlingly. In the distance arose a confused noise in the warm atmosphere; and the idleness of Sunday, as well as the melancholy engendered by the summer heat, seemed to shed around a universal languor.

Two men made their appearance.

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About this edition

This free edition of Bouvard and Pécuchet: A Tragi-comic Novel of Bourgeois Life, part 1 by Gustave Flaubert comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #25014, released 2008-04-07. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Novels, French Literature.

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