The Literature Network - The Top Ten of everything; Ben Schott turns useless information into bestselling books. There's a precedent for such male obsession, says David Sexton.

The Top Ten of everything; Ben Schott turns useless information into bestselling books. There's a precedent for such male obsession, says David Sexton.

Content courtesy of

From: The Evening Standard (London, England)
Date: 20051114
Author:

Byline: DAVID SEXTON

IT MIGHT seem that the countless little books of lists now landing in the bookshops for Christmas plumb new depths of daftness and inanity - and that Ben Schott is the man to blame. But nescience is nothing new, as may best be appreciated through one of the great curios of literature.

Gustave Flaubert's last novel, Bouvard and Pecuchet, is nothing less than a study in human stupidity and writing it finished him off.

It was a project Flaubert had nurtured for decades. In 1874, he was ready at last. "There will be no turning back. But such terror! ...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

The Top Ten of everything; Ben Schott turns useless information into bestselling books. There's a precedent for such male obsession, says David Sexton.

Other Articles on Gustave Flaubert