The Temptation of Saint Anthony

novel by Flaubert

Also known as: “La Tentation de Saint-Antoine”

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The Temptation of Saint Anthony, novel by Gustave Flaubert, published in 1874 as La Tentation de Saint Antoine. It was also translated as The First Temptation of Saint Anthony. Flaubert called the subject of the narrative his “old infatuation,” which he had begun developing in 1839 as an attempt to create a Faust in the French language. The work is notable for its imagery and its depiction of spiritual torment. The work takes as its...