num_pages: 459
description: Bored and unhappy in a lifeless marriage, Emma Bovary yearns to escape from the dull circumstances of provincial life. Flaubert's powerful, deeply moving examination of the moral degeneration of a middle-class Frenchwoman is universally regarded as one of the landmarks of 19th-century fiction.Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880) is counted among the greatest Western novelists. He is known especially for the masterpiece MADAME BOVARY, and for his scrupulous devotion to his art. The story focuses on a doctor's wife, Emma Bovary, who has adulterous affairs and lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities and emptiness of provincial life. Though the basic plot is rather simple, the novel's true art lies in its details and hidden patterns. Flaubert was notoriously a perfectionist about his writing and claimed always to be searching for le mot juste ("the right word").The novel was attacked for obscenity by public prosecutors when it was first serialized, resulting in a trial that made the story notorious. After the acquittal, it became a bestseller when it was published as a book, and now stands virtually unchallenged not only as a seminal work of Realism, but as one of the most influential novels of all time.
language: English
title: Madame Bovary: a story of provincial life
titlecomplete: Madame Bovary: a story of provincial life
characters: Charles Bovary, Berthe Bovary, Rodolphe Boulanger, Léon Dupuis, Emma Bovary, Monsieur Homais
genres: Fiction, France, French Literature, Classic Literature, Literature, Romance, Classics, Novels, 19th Century, Historical Fiction
ratings_count: 322185
places: Yonville-l'Abbaye, France, Tostes, Rouen
publisher: Hart