''The Temptation of Saint Anthony'' (French ''La Tentation de Saint Antoine'') is a dramatic poem in prose (often referred as a novel) by the French author

Gustave Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , , ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. Highly influential, he has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flauber ...

published in 1874. Flaubert spent his whole adult life working fitfully on the book.

Origin

In 1845, at age 24, Flaubert visited the Balbi Palace in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

, and was inspired by a painting of the same title, then attributed to Bruegel the Elder (now thought to be by one of his followers). Flaubert worked at the subject in three versions, completed in 1849, 1856 (with extracts published at that time) and 1872, before publishing the final version in 1874. It takes as its subject the famous temptation faced by Saint

Anthony the Great Anthony the Great ( grc-gre, Ἀντώνιος ''Antṓnios''; ar, القديس أنطونيوس الكبير; la, Antonius; ; c. 12 January 251 – 17 January 356), was a Christian monk from Egypt, revered since his death as a saint. He is d ...

, in the

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

ian desert, a theme often repeated in medieval and modern art. It is written in the form of a play script, detailing one night in the life of Anthony the Great, during which he is faced with great temptations. The work was illustrated by the French painter

Odilon Redon Odilon Redon (born Bertrand Redon; ; 20 April 18406 July 1916) was a French symbolist painter, printmaker, draughtsman and pastellist. Early in his career, both before and after fighting in the Franco-Prussian War, he worked almost exclusivel ...

Temptations

* Frailty * The

Seven Deadly Sins The seven deadly sins, also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins, is a grouping and classification of vices within Christian teachings. Although they are not directly mentioned in the Bible, there are parallels with the seven things ...

* The Heresiarchs * The Martyrs * The Magicians * The Gods * Science * Food * Lust and Death * The Monsters * Metamorphosis (Hearn, 1–6)

Characters

The following is a list of major characters and does not include characters such as the gods or the prophets. A complete list of characters can be found in the glossary of the Random House edition (Olds, 195–233). * Saint Anthony: The protagonist. He is tempted by many characters and objects to stray from his belief that isolation is the truest form of worship. * Ammonaria: One of his sister's friends, Anthony is drawn into a battle between his desire for her and his desire to remain holy before God in his isolation. He is distraught that he cannot control his body. * King

Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar II (Babylonian cuneiform: ''Nabû-kudurri-uṣur'', meaning "Nabu, watch over my heir"; Biblical Hebrew: ''Nəḇūḵaḏneʾṣṣar''), also spelled Nebuchadrezzar II, was the second king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, ruling ...

* The

Queen of Sheba The Queen of Sheba ( he, מַלְכַּת שְׁבָא‎, Malkaṯ Šəḇāʾ; ar, ملكة سبأ, Malikat Sabaʾ; gez, ንግሥተ ሳባ, Nəgśətä Saba) is a figure first mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. In the original story, she bring ...

: Tempts Anthony with riches, trying to evoke lust. * Hilarion: Also known as

Lucifer Lucifer is one of various figures in folklore associated with the planet Venus. The entity's name was subsequently absorbed into Christianity as a name for the devil. Modern scholarship generally translates the term in the relevant Bible passa ...

. Once Anthony's student, now he tries to tempt him away from his chosen lifestyle by creating doubt and eventually changes into Science. * Lust and Death: Lust appears as a young woman; Death, an old woman. They try to convince Anthony to give in to his desires and commit suicide.

References

and

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault (, ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationship between power and knowledge, and ho ...

(introduction),

Lafcadio Hearn , born Patrick Lafcadio Hearn (; el, Πατρίκιος Λευκάδιος Χέρν, Patríkios Lefkádios Chérn, Irish: Pádraig Lafcadio O'hEarain), was an Irish- Greek- Japanese writer, translator, and teacher who introduced the culture a ...

(translation) and Marshall Olds (glossary). ''The Temptation of Saint Anthony.'' New York: Random House, 1992.

External links

''The Temptation of Saint Anthony''
from Gutenberg English *

*
''The Temptation of Saint Anthony'', audio version
from LibriVox {{DEFAULTSORT:Temptation Of Saint Anthony, The 1874 French novels Novels by Gustave Flaubert Fiction about the Devil Cultural depictions of Anthony the Great Seven deadly sins in popular culture