The Dictionary of Received Ideas — Gustave Flaubert

A spoof encyclopedia of contemporary accepted wisdom and commonplaces, The Dictionary of Received Ideas sees Flaubert at his witty and satirical best. Perhaps intended as a companion to his final, unfinished novel Bouvard and Pécuchet, this compilation was the result of a lifetime of collecting the absurd and the clichéd, and providing darkly humorous explanations. This impressive new translation of a classic by the author of Madame Bovary is also currently the only edition in print in the English language.