Flaubert's Reading Notes on Montaigne

In summer 2008, Flaubert's reading notes on Montaigne's Essais and Journal de voyage surfaced in a British private collection. The existence of this manuscript had been known about since at least 1931, when it was sold at auction following the death of Flaubert's niece, Caroline. Its rediscovery offers the chance to reassess a much-discussed literary relationship. Scholars have long noted Flaubert's particular affection for Montaigne, an author he calls his 'père nourricier'. This article, which concentrates on the notes on the Essais (those on the Journal de voyage will be the subject of a later companion piece), attempts to build on previous studies in three ways. It offers an introduction to the reading notes and seeks to convey a flavour of their content; it embeds them within a broader history of Montaigne's reception in early nineteenth-century France; and it tracks some of the affective, philosophical and aesthetic imprints left by Flaubert's reading of the Essais on his published work. Flaubert's notes register a many-faced Montaigne: égoïste, sensible, sceptique, even bovaryste. And in his remarks on the style of the Essais, he glimpses a new face for his time: that of Montaigne as self-conscious 'artiste'.