Madame Bovary - (Illustrated Edition of World Literature)

Author: Flaubert
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: Madame Bovary, this brutal realist masterpiece, in a sense, is a reckoning with Romanticism and the Romantic novel. It extinguishes the unrealistic halo of fantasy, revealing the somber truth beneath. Without any inclination to dream, you are confronted with a more authentic and cruel reality. This book is a true provincial of 19th-century France, and its perfect and rigorous linguistic style has been celebrated by later generations. The beautiful protagonist Emma is the only daughter of a wealthy farmer. Unable to be content with a mediocre life with her kind and honest husband, she engages in extramarital affairs twice, only to be abandoned by both lovers. Due to excessive consumption, she accumulates debts and is eventually forced to commit suicide. The renowned writer Zola called this book "the epitome of accurate and precise." The female protagonist of this book, Emma, is the daughter of a wealthy farmer in the provinces. She spent her youth in a convent, reading extensively works of the Romantic movement. She marries the dull and mediocre town doctor Charles Bovary and is dissatisfied with her domestic life. She becomes the mistress of the landowner Rodolphe and the clerk Leon in succession.