De leerschool der liefde by Gustave Flaubert

During the libations, the mercenaries ransack the place, spurred on by Hamilcar's absence, and the memories of the unkind and unfair way Carthage treated them throughout the war. 'It was at Megara, a suburb of Carthage, in the gardens of Hamilcar.' The novel opens on a feast organized to celebrate the victory of the battle of Eryx, won against Rome.

The Zaïmph is an ornate bejewelled veil draped about the statue of the goddess Tanit in the sanctum sanctorum of her temple: the veil is the city's guardian and touching it will bring death to the perpetrator. With the help of the scheming freed slave, Spendius, Matho steals the sacred veil of Carthage, the Zaïmph, prompting Salammbô to enter the mercenaries' camp in an attempt to steal it back. The fictional title character, a priestess and the daughter of Hamilcar Barca, the foremost Carthaginian general, is the object of the obsessive lust of Matho, a leader of the mercenaries.

Its descriptions of Carthaginian costume influenced contemporary fashions and the attention it paid to Roman North Africa inspired new interest in archeological exploration there.Īfter the First Punic War, Carthage is unable to fulfill promises made to its army of mercenaries, and finds itself under attack.

Publication Ĭontemporary readers familiar with Flaubert's previous realistic work, Madame Bovary, and the legal controversy that followed its publication made Salammbô a bestseller, though its violence and sensuality bore little relationship to Flaubert's previous work. What a happy breath I will take as I get onboard the steam boat in Marseilles!' From 12 April to 5 June 1858, Flaubert traveled to Tunisia, to explore the locations of his novel, though little survived from ancient times. I will once again spend my days on horseback and my nights in a tent. This is why, around the end of March, I will go back to the country of exotic dates. In a letter to Madame de Chantepie dated 23 January 1858, he described his anticipation: 'I absolutely have to go to Africa. In 1857, Flaubert decided to conduct research in Carthage, writing in March to Félicien de Saulcy, a French archeologist about his plans. The novel was enormously popular when first published and jumpstarted a renewed interest in the history of the Roman Republic's conflict with the North African Phoenician outpost of Carthage.Īfter the legal troubles that followed the publication of Madame Bovary, when he was tried and acquitted on charges of 'immorality', Flaubert sought a less controversial subject for his next novel. Flaubert's principal source was Book I of the Histories, written by the Greek historian Polybius. It is set in Carthage immediately before and during the Mercenary Revolt (241–237 BCE). Salammbô (1862) is a historical novel by Gustave Flaubert.

De leerschool der liefde by Gustave Flaubert