- Paperback: 448 pages
- Publisher: Bantam USA; Reissue edition (1 Jan 1920)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0553213415
- ISBN-13: 978-0553213416
- Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 2.2 x 17.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 773,408 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
This exquisite novel tells the story of one of the most compelling heroines in modern literature--Emma Bovary. Unhappily married to a devoted, clumsy provincial doctor, Emma revolts against the ordinariness of her life by pursuing voluptuous dreams of ecstasy and love. But her sensuous and sentimental desires lead her only to suffering corruption and downfall. A brilliant psychological portrait, Madame Bovary searingly depicts the human mind in search of transcendence. Who is Madame Bovary? Flaubert's answer to this question was superb: "Madame Bovary, c'est moi." Acclaimed as a masterpiece upon its publication in 1857, the work catapulted Flaubert to the ranks of the world's greatest novelists. This volume, with its fine translation by Lowell Bair, a perceptive introduction by Leo Bersani, and a complete supplement of essays and critical comments, is the indispensable Madame Bovary.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I just want to remind everyone that this was written in a time when the definition of womanhood was how well you married. Of course Emma was undeveloped, when did she have a chance to be? Women were encouraged to define themselves inside a marriage or a family if at all. The novel is more Emma's quest to find herself, and much like Kate Chopin's The Awakening, it only ends in tragedy. Think, people, think!
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Flaubert's Bovary is perpetual, pervasive. Through her
eyes, we see the world as it is: filled with universal
virtues and vices that lead to either happiness or self-
destruction. Madame Bovary captures the crystallized
essence of the human spirit: unpredictable and changing, yet
tangible and real. Her passions are those that move the
soul, but not the mind; she never considers,she simply
acts.
Beautiful and uncanny, Emma Bovary's view of the
world eventually becomes the harbinger of her own destiny,
one that she always fails to accept. But, her own actions
never deviate from reality; her character is the very re-
presentation of human life. Immersed into a world that
affects her own personality, Emma conquers a realism that
is always perceptible, that reflects the nature of her own
fortune. In effect, she becomes the product of Tolstoi's
Anna Karenina and Shakespeare's Juliet, for her own destiny
is controlled by passions that are never satisfied, never
fulfilled.
With Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert presents the strange
reality of life. He moves through her his own vision, his
own perception. In the process, he joins Dickens,Tolstoi,
and Dostoyevski, thus becoming not a writer, but a window
that enables us to see face to face what lies behind the
apparencies of life,a gateway that connects us with all
that moves us to and from our ambitions, our own desires.
eyes, we see the world as it is: filled with universal
virtues and vices that lead to either happiness or self-
destruction. Madame Bovary captures the crystallized
essence of the human spirit: unpredictable and changing, yet
tangible and real. Her passions are those that move the
soul, but not the mind; she never considers,she simply
acts.
Beautiful and uncanny, Emma Bovary's view of the
world eventually becomes the harbinger of her own destiny,
one that she always fails to accept. But, her own actions
never deviate from reality; her character is the very re-
presentation of human life. Immersed into a world that
affects her own personality, Emma conquers a realism that
is always perceptible, that reflects the nature of her own
fortune. In effect, she becomes the product of Tolstoi's
Anna Karenina and Shakespeare's Juliet, for her own destiny
is controlled by passions that are never satisfied, never
fulfilled.
With Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert presents the strange
reality of life. He moves through her his own vision, his
own perception. In the process, he joins Dickens,Tolstoi,
and Dostoyevski, thus becoming not a writer, but a window
that enables us to see face to face what lies behind the
apparencies of life,a gateway that connects us with all
that moves us to and from our ambitions, our own desires.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is not among my few favorite novels, but no one who is sensitive to great literature can fail to see the brilliance of this work. In doing a bit of background work, I made the following discoveries:
Virtually every French writer of the late 19th acknowledged Flaubert as their model. In England, Thomas Hardy essentially tried to write Flaubertian novels in an English rural context. Later in England, D. H. Lawrence explicitly wrote novels that were polemical to Flaubert, so that he wrote in reaction against MADAME BOVARY. In Russia, Tolstoy decided to write his own version of the story of Emma Bovary, ANNA KARENINA. In the 20th century, James Joyce--who was proud of how few writers he had studied--confessed that he had read virtually every line of Flaubert and himself tried to carry to the furthest extreme the Flaubertian dictum of art for arts sake. And this is merely the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
Is this the most influential novel ever written? I honestly don't know, but if one wanted to construct a case for that assertion, a very, very powerful one could be made.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
scary
my first thought after reading this book was, thank goodness im done. then after thinking about it i realised how true it was to life. Read more
Published on 8 Aug 1999
the author regretfully buries his own past
...and all the above is true. yet this is above all a staunchly anti-romantic novel; a more cynical and heavy hearted Flaubert regretfully puts to bed the romantic fantasises of... Read more
Published on 14 July 1999
Another Vapid& Hysterical Woman Throws Herself Away For Love
This book was so lame, it took me many years of putting it down and picking it up again to get through it. Why did I waste my time? Read more
Published on 26 Jun 1999
Would anyone read this thing voluntarily?
Every time I have to help a high-school student or college freshman slog through Madame Bovary, I find myself wondering why the assignment isn't a violation of the Geneva... Read more
Published on 17 Jun 1999
Portrait of a Haughty Wife
Flaubert is a master with words, you HAVE to read it in French. If not possible, just read it, that's all there is I have to say. A masterpiece. Read more
Published on 28 May 1999
A very deep, emotional story.
I read this for a school project, and I'm telling 'ya, it's worth it anyway. Emma Bovary, the heroine, is the victim of over-consuming fantasies which take over her life and... Read more
Published on 18 May 1999
A Queer Story
I was surprised to find so much drama in this book, for a turn of a century book, you'd think it'd be about tea and horses, NO! Read more
Published on 13 May 1999
Oddly Favorable
Madame Bovary is handsdown one of my favorite classics. No other Frenchman has written such a delicate and time captivating story of a lost woman.
Published on 8 May 1999
Surprisingly Delightful to Read
I love the way Gustave Flaubert used his words, the grammar and structure of the sentences were beautiful to read. Read more
Published on 29 April 1999
A modest doctor marries a naive women.
I think it one of the most interesting books of French literature. The style is very good, espescially if one knows that Flaubert used to shout all his sentences to find out... Read more
Published on 8 Feb 1999
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