Idée reçue
Idées reçues describes prejudices that are uncritically accepted in French literary studies and expressed in formulaic phrases . Often looking for fashionable effects, they are an expression of bourgeois platitudes and ultimately human stupidity.
The French novelist Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880) put together a “catalog des opinions chic” under the title “Le Dictionnaire des idées reçues” . He probably began work on it around 1850. But whether the work should be included in the unfinished novel Bouvard and Pécuchet (published posthumously in 1881) is unclear in research. According to Flaubert's intention, it should be laid out in such a way, “que le lecteur ne sache pas si on se fout de lui, oui ou non”.
Individual evidence
- ^ Biography of Gustave Flaubert on the website of the University of Rouen , accessed on December 1, 2013