Gustave Flaubert Autograph

Autograph manuscript/working sheet*, 1 1/2 pages (both sides), 8,75 x 11,5 inch, in French (partly with Latin quotations), manuscript entitled "Questions académiques" - referring to Cicero in the Fournier edition (among other things, the ancient natural philosophy, the role of reason is discussed and how it differs from purely natural instincts), written in dark ink, attractively mounted (removable) for fine display with a portrait picture of Gustave Flaubert (altogether 16,5 x 11,75 inch), with browning, tape remnants along the left edge and a central horizontal tear was repaired with adhesive tape - in fine to good condition. Provenance: Caroline Franklin-Grout Flaubert (Flaubert's niece).

In parts:
"Questions académiques.

Idée nette de la solidarité humaine (p. IV). L’homme est une partie du genre humain lié à toutes les autres.

Outre les quatre éléments. Aristote en reconnaissait un cinquième
d’où étaient tirés les astres et les esprits.

Le siège de la raison est indépendant des passions qui sont naturelles.
Selon les considére comme des maladies, [...] 
"credo, quod haerebat in memoria [...]
absolument aucune différence entre la vision et la réalité. (p. 263)

Infinité des mondes. Démocrite soutenait qu’il y a des mondes à l’infini,
quelques infinis, seulement égaux [...]"

* The manuscript reveals Flaubert not as a narrator in a finished literary sentence, but as a working reader and collector of fragments of knowledge. Cicero's academic skepticism, in particular, fits exceptionally well with Flaubert's later working methods: knowledge is collected, examined, questioned, and compared.