Flaubert and the Brothers Goncourt

The Goncourt brothers' chief artistic interest was the novel. Their criticism of Flaubert, in the Journal: Mémoires de la vie littéraire, may be used to evaluate their critical abilities. Negative comments include: lack of appreciation for the fine arts, of imagination and originality, mechanical approach to creation, use of detailed, lengthy descriptions, his personality in his works, nonadherence to the Goncourts' idea of "d'après nature," plagiarism, and inability to find the soul of the period. Positive evaluations include: Flaubert's total involvement, prodigious industry, persecution by an uncomprehending public. The Journal entries demonstrate that the Goncourts had a fair sense for beauty. They failed as critics because they became embroiled in a labyrinth of personal prejudices that influenced their judgment and drew their attention away from the main objective. The result is an analysis the reader can not depend on for it is invariably contaminated with extraneous personal or petty considerations. (ALB)