Flauberts Salammbô

In 1862 Gustave Flaubert's novel Salammbô was published. Place and plot are set in the distant past. Carthage is a blind spot on the map of historical tradition. This is precisely why Flaubert chose this city. North African landscapes, cityscapes of the Maritime Republic of Carthage, pompous wealth and cultural artificiality in food, customs and clothing, monumental battles, cruel images of war and excessive violence against man and animals form the scenes of the new novel. According to Flaubert, "people of bad taste" are those who "embellish, purify and delude themselves, who change, scratch and take away" and yet think they are classics. For Flaubert, the bursting open of the normative view of antiquity means breaking down clichés and worn phrases, and inventing new forms of language. In this way he opens up a view of.