Letter from Gustave Flaubert, Paris, to an unidentified male recipient, 1858 April : autograph manuscript signed.

Flaubert announces to his fellow (aspiring) author that he is about to leave for Tunis. He says that if his recipient truly wants to be a man of letters, he needs an irresistible desire to write and the temperament of Hercules--otherwise, he should abandon the idea. He urges him to avoid journalism at all costs and tells him to read a great deal, especially the classics. He should then reflect deeply upon them. Flaubert goes on to explain that Madame Bovary has not been made into a play because he is categorically opposed to the idea. Salammbo, announced in the press, is far from being completed. It is to do research on it that he is leaving for Tunisia. He is having many problems writing it.