Messages to a poetess

Author's name: Gustave Flaubert Publisher: Al-Rafidain Publishing and Distribution Year of publication: 2025 Literary classification: Correspondence literature Book summary: Opulent literary pieces that were not marred by dictionaries, nor affected by time. In July 1846, Flaubert, who was not yet twenty-five, met the famous poetess Louise Colet inside a mutual friend's workshop. Since then, Cupid's arrows of love were shot into Flaubert's heart, who chose Louise, eleven years his senior, as his beloved and muse, to the extent that he said about her: he never loved and will never love a woman like he loved her. The year 1846 was harsh on Flaubert, as he lost his father and sister, felt lost, and his passion for life and writing waned. However, falling in love with Louise, the charming woman crowned with awards from the French Academy, made him regain his vitality and think of postponed dreams. In these one-voiced letters, we get to know another face of the immortal novelist, getting closer to his human side, his spontaneity, fears, dreams, literary and life opinions, reading taste, as well as his spiritual sensitivity, quick emotional reactions, suffering from illness, and his constant feeling of alienation and boredom. We also discover him as a lover and a novice writer who does not dream of glory and fame, nor of recognition from critics and great writers, but rather dreams of creating literary masterpieces of great perfection. Therefore, he is seen reading a lot and writing little, spending his time rewriting and editing his drafts, as he highly venerates his profession and mission as a writer, believing in the necessity of perfect harmony between ideas and style. It is believed that Flaubert is the greatest creator who wrote letters, and that the sweetness of his letters rivals the beauty of his novels. In these letters, we discover the beginnings of the most influential love in his life, which is said to have inspired him to build his famous fictional character Emma Bovary.