A spoof encyclopedia of contemporary accepted wisdom and commonplaces, the Dictionary of Received Ideas sees Flaubert at his witty and satirical best. Perhaps intended as a companion to his final, unfinished novel Bouvard and Pécuchet, this compilation was the result of a lifetime of collecting the absurd and the clichéd with darkly humorous explanations.A playful look at nineteenth-century values and talking points, this dictionary will provide enduring entertainment and prove relevant even today.