Daumier and Flaubert: Examples of Graphic and Literary Caricature

Examination of Flaubert's L'Éducation sentimentale reveals a series of allusions to lithographs by Honoré Daumier. This study compares Daumier's "Rue Transnonain, le 15 avril 1834" to Flaubert's episode of National Guard violence, during the "June Days" of 1848 (III. i). Using off-center composition, foreshortening, and chiaroscuro, Daumier leads the spectator towards discovery that he sees the aftermath of a massacre. Through dramatic concision and narrative hiatus, Flaubert analogously forces the reader to infer that Père Roque blew out the brains of a prisoner. Both artists require reconstruction of a sequence of events and provoke heightened indignation at the moment of comprehension. (CFC)