Editing Sentimental Education (section)

{{Short description|1869 novel by Gustave Flaubert}}
{{About|the novel|other uses|Sentimental Education (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox book|
| name           = Sentimental Education
| title_orig     = L'Education sentimentale
| translator     =
| image          = Education sentimentale flaubert.jpg
| caption        = Title page from the first edition of ''L'Education sentimentale''
| author         = [[Gustave Flaubert]]
| orig_lang_code = fr
| illustrator    =
| cover_artist   =
| country        = France
| language       = French
| series         =
| subject        =
| genre          = [[Realism (arts)|Realism]]
| isbn           = 9781471727740
| pub_date       = 1869
| dewey          = 843.8
| congress       = PQ2246 .E4
| english_pub_date =
| set_in            = [[Paris]] and [[Normandy]], 1837–1867
| native_wikisource = L’Éducation sentimentale, éd. Charpentier, 1891
| preceded_by       = [[Salammbô]]
| followed_by       = [[The Temptation of Saint Anthony (novel)|The Temptation of Saint Anthony]]
}}

'''''Sentimental Education''''' (French: ''L'éducation sentimentale'') is an 1869 [[novel]] by [[Gustave Flaubert]]. The story focuses on the romantic life of a young man named Frédéric Moreau at the time of the [[French Revolution of 1848]] and the founding of the [[Second French Empire]]. It describes Moreau's love for an older woman, a character based on the wife of the music publisher [[Maurice Schlesinger]], who is portrayed in the book as Jacques Arnoux. The novel's tone is by turns ironic and pessimistic; it occasionally lampoons French society. The main character often gives himself over to romantic flights of fancy.

Considered one of the most influential novels of the 19th century, it was praised by contemporaries such as [[George Sand]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pagesperso-orange.fr/jb.guinot/pages/SandEducation.html |title=George Sand's criticism of "L'Education sentimentale" |publisher=Pagesperso-orange.fr |access-date=2013-08-06}}</ref> and [[Émile Zola]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pagesperso-orange.fr/jb.guinot/pages/ZolaEduc.html |title=Emile Zola's article on "L'Education sentimentale" |publisher=Pagesperso-orange.fr |access-date=2013-08-06}}</ref> but criticised by [[Henry James]].<ref>citation needed</ref>