A revelatory work that examines the intricate relationship between history and literature, truth and fiction—with some surprising conclusions. Focusing on three literary masterpieces—Charles Dickens's Bleak House (1853), Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary (1857), and Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks (1901)—Peter Gay, a leading cultural historian, demonstrates that there is more than one way to read a novel.

Typically, readers believe that fiction, especially the Realist novels that dominated Western culture for most of the nineteenth century and beyond, is based on historical truth and that great novels possess a documentary value. That trust, Gay brilliantly shows, is misplaced; novels take their own path to reality. Using Dickens, Flaubert, and Mann as his examples, Gay explores their world, their craftsmanship, and their minds. In the process, he discovers that all three share one overriding quality: a resentment and rage against the society that sustains the novel itself. Using their stylish writing as a form of revenge, they deal out savage reprisals, which have become part of our Western literary canon. A New York Times Notable Book and a Best Book of 2002.

彼得·盖伊(Peter Gay)，美国文化史家，德裔犹太人，1923年出生于柏林，1939年离开德国，1941年移民美国，后加入美籍。先后就读美国丹佛大学和哥伦比亚大学，1948～1969年执教哥伦比亚大学，1969一1993年在耶鲁大学任教。现为耶鲁大学斯特林荣休教授，纽约公共图书馆学者与作家中心主任。盖伊著作等身，论题涉及启蒙运动、中产阶级等诸多社会文化史领域，以倡导“运用精神分析方法的文化史”而闻名，此外，他还致力于探讨弗洛伊德对德国文化以及历史学研究的影响，是心理分析史学的实践者。在其学术生涯早期，以“启蒙运动：一种解释"第一卷(1966年版)荣获美国国家图书奖，后期完成五卷本巨著((布尔乔亚经验：从维多利亚到弗洛伊德》(1984一1998年版)。2004年，盖伊荣获美国历史学会(AHA)杰出学术贡献奖。