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Gustave Flaubert was born in 1821 in Rouen. As a child, he secretly watched his father, a surgeon, perform dissections. As a literary realist, he made his pen into a scalpel. He wrote novels and plays while still in school, where he was struck by a deep disdain for humanity. After a severe epileptic seizure, he abandoned his law studies and retreated to the family estate in Croisset near Rouen. He vowed never to marry and devoted himself almost exclusively to writing. After a trip to the East, Flaubert decided never to leave Croisset again. His novel 'Madame Bovary' caused a literary scandal upon its release in 1857, resulting in Flaubert having to appear in court. The only contact he had with the outside world was a lively correspondence with his lover Louise Colet and numerous fellow writers such as Ivan Turgenev. Flaubert died in 1880.