The workings of memory, so central to Flaubert’s literary aesthetic, demand further examination in the historical context L ’Education senti mentale provides, for as the collective and individual memories inform one another, they provide us with valuable insights into the structure of this historical novel. This process contrasts with the positive power which memory exerts on Frédéric as he rather ineptly seeks his sentimental education. The revolt is spurred on by the not so distant memory of 1789, but as events evolve a collective forgetting process takes hold, and the revolutionaries repeat many of the mistakes of their prede cessors. Flaubert’s novel chronicles some of the events of the Revolution of 1848 as seen through Frédéric’s eyes.

Flaubert, in his definitive version of L ’Education sentimentale, is interested in a similar form of collective memory, but the memories of the revolutionaries of 1848 are not those of the protagonist, Frédéric Moreau, who bases his life on memories of the ideal woman. Individual and collective memory are often at odds, yet the historical events being remembered are the same for all and thus provide the framework on which a generally accepted collective memory can be built. VanderWolk I N SAUL FRIEDLANDER’S VIEW of collective memory, survivors of the Holocaust have a conception of the past which may or may not correspond to the official collective memory proposed by the states of Israel and Germany.1The memory of each group is obviously colored and can be revised without altering the collective consciousness and sense of purpose, whether that purpose be to always remember or to forget as quickly as possible. History and the Redemptive Power of Memory in Flaubert’s L ’ Education sentimentale William C. In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

L education sentimentale