Sentimental Education has been described both as the first modern novel and as a novel to end all novels. Weaving a poignant love story into his account of the 1848 revolution, Flaubert shows a society in the grip of stereotypes, on every level. There is something farcical in his depiction of characters who aspire to act but are dogged by cliche at every turn. To a greater extent even than Madame Bovary, Sentimental Education is an indictment of modern consumerism, contrasting the hollowness of material achievement with the lasting beauty of the ideal. Flaubert's study of success and failure offers us a terrible sadness in a terrible beauty, yet is one of the world's great comic masterpieces.

居斯塔夫·福楼拜(1821-1880)，19世纪法国现实主义文学大师。生于法国西北部卢昂城的一个医生世家。童年在父亲的医院里度过，因此他以后的文学创作明显带有医生的细致观察与剖析的痕迹。1841年进入巴黎大学法学院学习。1843年他在法科考试中失败，次年又突发神经官能症，从此中断学业，常年住在父母的克鲁瓦塞庄园，期间他开始尝试创作长篇小说。1846年福楼拜的父亲和妹妹卡罗莲去世，福楼拜将妹妹的女儿接到自己身边，尽心照顾母亲和外甥女，终身未娶。1880年5月8日，他因患脑溢血去世。

福楼拜是继巴尔扎克、斯汤达之后19世纪法固批判现实主义文学的第三位杰出代表。他在艺术上另辟蹊径，形成了自己独特的艺术风格，创造了所谓"纯客观"的艺术，丰富和发展了19世纪的现实主义。主要作品有长篇小说《包法利夫人》、《情感教育》，短篇小说《淳朴的心》，剧本《女性》等。