Flaubert: Madame Bovary

Madame Bovary was one of the most influential literary achievements of the nineteenth century and gained immediate notoriety through its questioning of marriage, sex, and the role of women. Stephen Heath shows how this landmark text captures and articulates a fundamental experience of the post-romantic, commercial-industrial, emotional-democratic period. He explains how Madame Bovary represents Flaubert’s intense personal engagement with the tragedy of bourgeois culture, while at the same time exemplyfying the author’s commitment to the impersonality of Art and the transcendence of style. The novel is set in its literary and historical context and there is a guide to further reading.

• Probably the most influential French novel of the nineteenth century, published 1857 (same year as Les Fleurs du Mal, our other Landmark in this batch, and like it taken to court for immorality) • The novel questions marriage, sex and the role of women. It will be referred to in courses on feminist criticism as well as in traditional French literature courses • Our book addresses the difficult problem of Flaubert’s concept of art and how he grappled with writing his novel. As always in this series, historical and literary context is provided, and there is a guide to further reading

Note on references; Chronology; Introduction; 1. Madame Bovary: composition and context; 2. Madame Bovary: novel and art; 3. Madame Bovary: sequels and effects.