Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) was one of the most important writers of the 19th century, the inventor of the contemporary short story, and the direct forerunner of modernist literature. He, more than any other single figure, is the creator of modern prose: his terse, hard-edged style reveals character, plot, and theme not by authorial exposition, but by extreme precisions of diction, voice, and detail. Joyce explicitly modeled himself on Flaubert; Pound called him "Papa Gustave"; and the critic James Wood wrote, "Novelists should thank Flaubert the way poets thank spring; it all begins again with him."
Mark Polizzotti is a writer and translator from the french whose books include the collaborative novel S., Revolution of the Mind: The Life of André Breton, Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisited and Sympathy for the Traitor. His articles and reviews have appeared in The New Republic, The Nation, Partisan Review, and elsewhere. He has translated works by Gustave Flaubert, Marguerite Duras, André Breton, and Jean Echenoz. He currently directs the publications program at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
