One of the major developments on the critical scene in France in the last twenty years has been the emergence of genetic studies, a new branch of literary studies concerned with the processes involved in the production of literary works. The focus of genetic studies is not so much on the final, published, work but on the preparatory material - scenarios, sketches, rough drafts, fair copy, author's manuscript - known as the avant-texte (a term we shall use throughout this chapter). The rise of genetic studies has been associated with a process of renewal and enrichment in Flaubert studies. The works of Flaubert are increasingly viewed in relation to the work the author invested in their production, as reflected in a series of remarkably extensive avant-textes. The emphasis upon the avant-texte is not, however, without its detractors and, as we shall see in this chapter, there are a number of theoretical issues in genetic studies that have not been fully resolved. In particular, the nature of the relationship between avant-texte and the text itself has been the subject of much debate. For some, the value to be attached to material which, viewed from one perspective, was rejected in order to make way for the definitive version, is problematic. Avant-texte and text are, however, in a sense each dependent upon the other. The avant-texte can be constituted only because, as the term implies, there is a text that it precedes, but that text itself is the result of the process of production undertaken in the avant-texte.