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    Salammbo
    Salammbo
    Salammbo
    Ebook380 pages6 hours

    Salammbo

    By Gustave Flaubert

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880), French novelist and short story writer, was considered to be a master of style, obsessively devoted to finding the right word ("le mot juste"), in every piece of literature he produced. As a child he expressed great imagination and took in all the stories he could from his nurse and neighbors, and in doing so, he prepared himself for a life consumed by literature and history. In addition to his "Madame Bovary", his first published novel and the one considered to be his masterpiece, Flaubert is remembered for his great historical romance, "Salammbô". This novel draws largely from Book I of Polybius' "Histories", and combines the history of the First Punic War and the mythology of ancient Carthage in a fashion that has never been equaled. Flaubert sealed his reputation with the publication of this sophisticated novel in 1862, as audiences were entranced with its lush and brilliantly detailed descriptions of a little-known, but fascinating, period of history.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDigireads.com Publishing
    Release dateFeb 1, 2012
    ISBN9781596253766
    Author

    Gustave Flaubert

    Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880) was a French novelist who was best known for exploring realism in his work. Hailing from an upper-class family, Flaubert was exposed to literature at an early age. He received a formal education at Lycée Pierre-Corneille, before venturing to Paris to study law. A serious illness forced him to change his career path, reigniting his passion for writing. He completed his first novella, November, in 1842, launching a decade-spanning career. His most notable work, Madame Bovary was published in 1856 and is considered a literary masterpiece.

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    Reviews for Salammbo

    3.5/5

    221 ratings7 reviews

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    • 5/5
      In honesty, my rating is based on reading the English translation. Extremely vivid historical novel of the "truceless war" between Carthage and the rebel mercenaries.
    • 5/5
      The best historical novel I've read so far.
    • 3/5
      A bloodthirsty Carthaginian epic; reveals history in a way that few writers can manage.
    • 4/5
      A bit of a rollicking tale, especially unexpected from Flaubert; it has the feeling of an epic poem, or a medieval romance. That's probably the best way to judge it: not dealing with deep characters (although Spendius is chilling); not interested in a perfectly coherent, driven plot (although there's plenty of action); but filled with asides, descriptions and repetitions. But it's also 'realistic', in the sense of packed with detail; this clashes in an interesting way with the characters' speeches to each other, which feel very mannered. I imagine this is much better studied than read breezily like I did.

      But by far the weirdest thing was that it reminded me of 'Blood Meridian.' I wonder if there's anything to that.
    • 3/5
      Flaubert goes on a radically different track here - after the astonishing success of Madame Bovary he goes for an Orientalist tragedy on the ruin of Carthage.

      As expected, he put an astonishing amount of work into this - he's read his Polybius, and written astonishing (exaggerated?) accounts of the Carthaginian religion. Lots of description of destruction and savagery and war. The devourer-god, Moloch. That alone makes it worth a read.

      It's as though Flaubert has constructed an elaborate sand castle which is Carthage and he has taken a special delight in taking off his boots and kicking it down.

      It was a good novel, no question. But compared to the rest of Flaubert's genius, 'good' is 'OK'.
    • 4/5
      As an avid ancient history fan, I was very pleasantly surprised to discover this work. Although historical fiction, in general Flaubert did his homework and wrote a fairly accurate account of the little known but brutal Third century BC war between Carthage and its mercenary army.Flaubert did an excellent job of describing the exotic Carthaginian rituals, the multitude of peoples that comprised the mercenaries, etc. However, I found his lavishly ornate writing style tiring. Sometimes too much of a good thing really isn't that good after all.
    • 3/5
      Salammbô is set in ancient Carthage and talks about a war between mercenaries and the Carthaginean army, led by Hamilcar Barcas. Flaubert has mixed classical greek elements with modern, realist ideas. The overall theme of the novel is arrogance -- not the god-defying hybris of classical tragedy, but the very human form: pride, jealousy, greed. These three human characters are intertwined thoughout the story. The mercenaries seemingly start their war because the Carthagineans don't want to pay them, but it is the slave Spendius who stirs them up, deliberately misleading them in his desire for power. Spendius also steers the mercenary general Mâtho, who is mostly driven by his lusting for Salammbô, into stealing the most sacred object of the Carthagineans: the Zaimph, the veil of the godess Tanith.Though the gods seem to get their revenge in the end, it is man who drives the action. It is the greed of the Carthagineans that starts the war, it is the jealousy of the Council of Ancients that doublecrosses Hamilcar every time he is on the verge of winning, it is the pride of Hamilcar's political rival Hannon that leads to gruesome defeats.Flaubert has interspersed his story with an exotic kind of realism, leading to elaborate descriptions of costumes, ceremonies, military movements, and torturous punishments. Salammbô is a distant relative of The Passion of the Christ in all its gorey historical realism, and perhaps the horrifying descriptions are all too gratuitious. But Salammbô goes deeper than this, it is a biting description of human society as a political structure, showing how party politics will work against the best intents of the state.Salammbô is an exponent of the french exotism, which took a start with Napoleons Egyptian expeditions and influenced many other artists (Verdi's Aïda is another famous example). Unlike most, however, Flaubert did extensive research for his book, even traveling to Tunisia. Echoes of Homer and Xenophon are scattered throughout his work. It seems to me that the way the novel depicts Carthage as a major character has also inspired Albert Camus when he wrote La Peste, where another African city is closed off from the world while a pseudo-divine punishment chastises the inhabitants.

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    Salammbo - Gustave Flaubert

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