A seize ans, Gustave Flaubert ecrivait dans ses cahiers scolaires des nouvelles. Ce recueil regroupe quelques-unes comme Ivre et Mort, La Mort du Duc de Guise, Deux mains pour une couronne, Un secret de Philippe le Prudent ..."

Nowhere do Flaubert's explorations of the relation of signs to the objects they signify reach a more thorough study than in this work. Bouvard and Pecuchet systematically confuse signs and symbols with reality, an assumption that causes them much suffering, as it does for Emma Bovary and Frederic Moreau. Yet here, due to the explicit focus on books and knowledge, Flaubert's ideas reach a climax. Consequently, the book is widely read as a precursor to modern theories