Le Traité des délits de Joseph-Pierre Chassan : une nouvelle source pour L’Éducation sentimentale

Abstract

Among the documentary files of Bouvard et Pécuchet kept at the Municipal Library of Rouen a group of autograph manuscripts by Flaubert is of interest: these are the reading notes taken from the Traité des délits et contraventions de la parole, de l’écriture et de la presse by Joseph-Pierre Chassan. The title of this work in three volumes, on which Flaubert took notes classified in the “Politics” file of Bouvard and Pécuchet (g226, 6, fos 153-153vo-154), does not appear anywhere among the documentary sources of L’Éducation sentimentale: the studies published so far, in particular the rigorous research carried out by Alberto Cento, bear no trace of it. However, the analysis of the notes taken by Flaubert on Chassan's work and the rereading of the writer's historical novel highlight common aspects that deserve to be deepened: we will see that the Traité des délits, a little-known work, plays a crucial role in the elaboration of a speech by Frédéric in L'Éducation sentimentale and is now added to the long list of works consulted by the writer for the preparation of his novel.