(anthology of stupid quotations), the Dictionary of Received Ideas (encyclopedia of commonplace notions), or a combination of both. Structure The work resembles the earlier Sentimental Education in that the plot structure is episodic, giving it a picaresque quality. Because Bouvard and Pécuchet rarely persevere with any subject beyond their first disappointments, they are perpetually rank beginners: the lack of real achievement and the constant forward movement through time (as shown through the rapid political changes from 1848 to 1851) create a strong sense of tension in the work. Chapter 1. Meeting; friendship; Bouvard's inheritance (1838–41) Chapter 2. Agriculture; landscape gardening; food preservation (March 1841 – autumn 1842) Chapter 3. Chemistry; anatomy; medicine; biology; geology Chapter 4. Archeology; architecture; history (a study of the Duc d'Angoulême); mnemonics Chapter 5. Literature; drama; grammar; aesthetics Chapter 6. Politics (25 February 1848) Chapter 7. Love Chapter 8. Gymnastics, spiritualism, hypnotism, Swedenborgianism, magic; theology; philosophy; they consider suicide; Christmas Chapter 9. Religion Chapter 10. Education (Victor and Victorine); music; urban planning; arguments with everyone around them Likely ending. Speeches at the Golden Cross Inn; futurism; they narrowly escape prison; the desk for two Major themes Nowhere does Flaubert's exploration of the relation of signs to the objects they signify receive a more thorough treatment than in this work. Bouvard and Pécuchet systematically confuse signs and symbols with reality, an assumption that causes them much suffering, as it does for Emma Bovary and Frédéric Moreau. Yet here, due to the explicit focus on books and knowledge, Flaubert's ideas reach a climax. The relentless failure of Bouvard and Pécuchet to learn anything from their adventures raises the question of what is knowable. Whenever they achieve some small measure of success (a rare occurrence), it is the result of unknown external forces beyond their comprehension. In this sense, they strongly resemble Anthony in The Temptation of Saint Anthony, a work which addresses similar epistemological themes as they relate to classical literature. Lionel Trilling wrote that the novel expresses a belief in the alienation of human thought from human experience. The worldview that emerges from the work, one of human beings proceeding relentlessly forward without comprehending the results of their actions or the processes of the world around them, does not seem an optimistic one. But given that Bouvard and Pécuchet do gain some comprehension of humanity's ignorant state (as demonstrated by their composition of the Dictionary of Received