Dussardier on the barricades: History and fiction in L' 'Education sentimentale' (Gustave Flaubert)

Although Flaubert avoided full-scale depiction of the June Days in L'Educat ion sentimentale, he does include in the novel a retrospective account of D ussardier's heroic action on the barricades. Dussardier's intervention has an important structural function, acting as abridge between tow "Oedipal" c onfrontations, Frederic's abortive attempt to shoot Arnoux before the June Days and Roque's shooting of a defenceless prisoner in the aftermath of the June Days. The episode also has a complex relationship to the documentary material compiled by Flaubert. A close examination of the "avant-texte" rev eals that Flaubert shaped the episode to meet certain fictional requirement s, rather than being bound by historical actuality.