Madame Bovary

by Gustave Flaubert

Geoffrey Wall (Translator) and Michele Roberts (Preface)

'A masterpiece' Julian Barnes

Flaubert's erotically charged and psychologically acute portrayal of a married woman's affair caused a moral outcry on its publication in 1857. Its heroine, Emma Bovary, is stifled by provincial life as the wife of a doctor. An ardent devourer of sentimental novels, she seeks escape in fantasies of high romance, in voracious spending and, eventually, in adultery. But even her affairs bring her disappointment, and when real life continues to fail to live up to her romantic expectations, the consequences are devastating. It was deemed so lifelike that many women claimed they were the model for his heroine; but Flaubert insisted: 'Madame Bovary, c'est moi.'

Translated with an Introduction and Notes by Geoffrey Wall
With a Preface by Michèle Roberts

• ISBN10: 0140449124
• ISBN13: 9780140449129
• Publish Date: 30 January 2003 (first published 12 March 1952)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
• Imprint: Penguin Classics
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 384
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780140449129

Reviews

[celinenyx]

Flaubert was a contemporary of Zola, and in many ways Madame Bovary and Nana can be compared. I really prefer the story of Madame Bovary though, as Flaubert seems much more sympathetic to his main character than Zola is to Nana.

The story starts with the childhood of mister Bovary, and in a few chapters paints the years before he met Emma in broad strokes. Soon however, the focal point switches to Emma, and her dissatisfaction with her life.

Madame Bovary managed to ellicit a strong feeling of pathos for Emma, at least for me. She is definitely not well-loved amongst readers, but I felt for her. She is stuck in a world where a woman can do nothing but marry someone that seems agreeable, and then sit the rest of her life out. She longs for escape, for grand adventures, for strong emotions, but it's impossible for her to leave the town where she lives with her husband. All a woman could do in that time to defy the common order, was to have an affair. Which she does - and of course these affairs don't solve anything.

Although at the end also Emma experiences her downfall, Flaubert is always respectful towards Emma. Although her fancies are sometimes incredibly shallow, passages from her view points are among the most beautiful and profound in the book.

Coupled with truly cool writing, I really enjoyed Madame Bovary.

[jamiereadthis]

Emma is no Anna K. I kept thinking, why doesn’t she jump in front of a train?

[Eve1972]

Good classic read!