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PARTISAN REVIEW
itself as far as possible beyond the promises, the consolations, and
the
demands of culture; in each of the
Three Tales
he asks what remains
when culture is rejected and transcended. The answer, given with a
notable firmness and simplicity, is that something of highest value
does remain-it is the self affirmed in self-denial: life's nothing un–
less sacrificial. And Bouvard and Pecuchet, sitting at their double
copying desk, having a work and each other, but stripped of every
idea, every theory, every shred of culture beyond what is necessary
to keep men alive and still human, are, in their own mild negation
of self, intended by Flaubert to be among the company of his
sainlJ.
