Madame Bovary

by Gustave Flaubert

Bored and unhappy in a lifeless marriage, Emma Bovary yearns to escape from the dull circumstances of provincial life. Married to a simple-minded but indulgent country doctor, she takes one lover, then another, hastens her husband's financial ruin with her extravagance...

Gustave Flaubert (1821-1888) was brought to trial by the French government on the grounds of the novel's alleged immorality, but unlike his less fortunate contemporary, Baudelaire, he narrowly escaped conviction.

Falubert's powerful and deeply moving examination of the moral degeneration of a middle-class Frenchwoman is universally regarded as one of the landmarks of 19th-century fiction. It is reproduced here, complete and unabridged, in the classic translation by Eleanor Marx-Aveling, daughter of Karl Marx.

Unabridged, slightly corrected Dover (1996) republication of the translation first published by Vizetelly and Company, London, 1886.
(back cover)

• ISBN10: 0486292576
• ISBN13: 9780486292571
• Publish Date: 28 March 2003 (first published 12 March 1952)
• Publish Status: Transferred
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Dover Publications Inc.
• Edition: New edition
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 256
• Language: English

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!