"A historical and literary event to celebrate: the first-ever complete edition of the lively, intimate, and illuminating correspondence between two of the nineteenth century's greatest writers and personalities." "It was nearly by accident that the correspondence - and the friendship - between Gustave Flaubert and George Sand began. Following the sensational scandal caused by the publication of his Madame Bovary in 1857, Flaubert's Salammbo was accorded a generally cool critical reception; George Sand, however - then at the height of her reputation as both a novelist and a playwright - championed the book in a review. The letter a grateful Flaubert sent her in thanks initiated thirteen years of steadily deepening affection - and ongoing epistolary conversation - between the two that has evolved, over the course of more than a century, into the stuff of literary legend. Despite the difference in their ages - Sand was a generation older than Flaubert, and had a son his age - they shared a remarkable affinity. "I don't think," wrote Sand, "there can be two workers in the world more different from one another than we are. But as we're so fond of each other it doesn't matter . . . We need our opposite number."" "As they expounded their often-contrasting views on writing and the craft of fiction, contemporary French society, the arts (especially the stage), their passions and prejudices, their family concerns, and the political upheavals of the times, Flaubert and Sand could not have known the invaluable contribution their dialogue would ultimately make to the world of literature. Their distinctive literary "voices" have been subtly and astutely captured by Francis Steegmuller (Flaubert) and Barbara Bray (Sand). Mr. Steegmuller's incisive foreword provides additional historical perspective, and reinforces the observation by Alphonse Jacobs, the editor of the original French edition, that this is indeed "the finest correspondence of the past century, perhaps the finest of all time.""--BOOK JACKET.