Gustave Flaubert, a rage to write. Gustave Flaubert, an extraordinary writer and meticulous perfectionist, who invented the modern novel in the middle of the 19th century. He also inadvertently created a major scandal. 29 January 1857, the 35 year-old Flaubert is in the dock because of the heroine of his novel, Emma Bovary, and her character.—TV5Monde Europe