Dictionary of Received Ideas

Dictionary of Received Ideas (in French, La Dictionnaire des Idées Reçues) is a satirical work by Gustave Flaubert, lampooning the cliches endemic to French society under the Second French Empire. The book takes its form as a dictionary of catchphrases and platitudes, most of which are as paradoxical as they are insipid. In part, the book illustrates the transformation of modern man under machine capitalism by exploring the way that dialogue becomes prefabricated, and the ways in which meaning becomes divorced from context.

Related Topics:
Gustave Flaubert - Second French Empire

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At the time of Flaubert's death, it was unclear whether he intended to publish the book separately (though he may have been wary of creating a scandal, as he had with his earlier Madame Bovary), or as an appendix to his unfinished novel, Bouvard et Pécuchet. In some of his notes, it seems that Flaubert intended the dictionary to be taken as the final creation of the two protagonists of the latter novel.

Related Topics:
Madame Bovary - Bouvard et Pécuchet

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The work is similar in many respects to Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary.

Related Topics:
Ambrose Bierce - The Devil's Dictionary

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