This is the first book-length study of Flaubert's use of dialogue, an
important but neglected component of his fictional texts. Professor
Haig's starting point is Sartre's observation that 'Flaubert does not
believe that we speak: we are spoken'. Dialogue in Flaubert does not
attempt to represent an individual style but to circumscribe a larger
phenomenon of language. Speech defines man both in the sense that it
describes him as a set of human characteristics, and inscribes him
within a system of social values. The author explores the development of
Flaubert's use of dialogue in Madame Bovary, L'Education Sentimentale
(both versions), and Bouvard et Pécuchet.