Monday, December 13, 2010

Gustave Flaubert - Dec 12 1821 - May 8, 1880

Gustave Flaubert's bed in a museum in Rouen, France.

It was shocking to me when I learned that this man who wrote perfect novels and stories lived a wretchedly reckless sexual life; taking, as he travelled widely, both male and female prostitutes. He often described his encounters in his letters, lamenting the one after another venereal disease he'd contracted along the way.  The museum in Rouen is dedicated to him as well as to the hospital it is housed in, which was headed by his father.

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