28 January 2025
The text Memoirs of a Madman by a very young Gustave Flaubert (18 years old) speaks of the irretrievability of a first love, how it leaves a scar of pain on the heart. Flaubert writes about this with an incredibly compelling linguistic fury, with a directness that we no longer find so pure and unfiltered in his later works. Now that I’ve grown older, I find his feelings and thoughts deeply real and moving. Flaubert’s theme: a timeless life theme, even today. (Nikola Weisse)