{"product_id":"a-simple-heart-9780811213189","title":"A Simple Heart","description":"In \u003cem\u003eA Simple Heart\u003c\/em\u003e, the poignant story that inspired Julian Barnes' \u003cem\u003eFlaubert's Parrot\u003c\/em\u003e, Félicité, a French housemaid, approaches a lifetime of servitude with human-scaled but angelic aplomb. No other author has imparted so much beauty and integrity to so modest an existence. Flaubert's great saint endures loss after loss by embracing the rich, true rhythms of life: the comfort of domesticity, the solace of the Church, and the depth of memory. This novella showcases Flaubert's perfectly honed realism: a delicate counterpoint of daily events with their psychological repercussions. Flaubert is diagnosis, Ezra Pound wrote, the whole of Flaubert, the whole fight for the novel as 'histoire morale contemporaine' was a fight against maxims, against abstractions, a fight back toward a human and\/or total conception.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eFlaubert, Gustave:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cstrong\u003eGustave Flaubert\u003c\/strong\u003e (1821-80) is considered to be one of the most important French novelists of the nineteenth century. He's most well known for his novel \u003cem\u003eMadame Bovary\u003c\/em\u003e, and for his desire to write a book about nothing, a novel in which all external elements, especially the presence of the author, have been eliminated, leaving nothing but style itself. Often considered a member of the naturalist school, Flaubert despised categorizations of this sort, and in novels like \u003cem\u003eBouvard and Pécuchet\u003c\/em\u003e demonstrates the inaptness of this label. In addition to these two novels, he is also the author of \u003cem\u003eA Sentimental Education\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eSalambo\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThree Tales\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eThe Temptation of Saint Anthony\u003c\/em\u003e.","brand":"New Directions Publishing Corporation","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50647505109266,"sku":"9780811213189","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_84f04d1f-8ba8-4b6f-9f0f-28b22726a67c.jpg?v=1734801176","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/a-simple-heart-9780811213189","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}