Gustave Flaubert (; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was an influential French novelist who was perhaps the leading exponent of
literary realism in his country. He is known especially for his
first published novel,
Madame Bovary (1857), for his
Correspondence, and for his scrupulous devotion to his style and
aesthetics. The celebrated short story writer
Guy de Maupassant was a of Flaubert.