Madame Bovary is the story of a woman who dreams of the life she reads about in romantic novels and cannot find satisfaction with her reality. This leads her into adulterous affairs and finally self destruction. My volume also contained a biographical sketch of the author, letters written by the author during the ten years he wrote Madame Bovary, and both contemporary and modern critical essays about the book. The novel evidently had an important role in moving from the romantic to the realist period in literature, but I am in no way a literature major and cannot explain this in detail. I know from reading the essays and letters that Flaubert was trying to create a novel that was not dependent on the story, that was basically the prose form of poetry, art created within writing, and he would spend days rewriting a couple of pages. I found the characters rather despicable, but the descriptions very beautiful. I think this is what moving from romantic to realist and with the effort on making perfect prose means, at least on a level I can understand it. Would I recommend it? Possibly. It is without a doubt beautifully written. It's not something "just for fun", though. The characters are not very likeable, and while the novel is beautifully written like a painting, it is tragic.
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Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
Madame Bovary is the story of a woman who dreams of the life she reads about in romantic novels and cannot find satisfaction with her reality. This leads her into adulterous affairs and finally self destruction. My volume also contained a biographical sketch of the author, letters written by the author during the ten years he wrote Madame Bovary, and both contemporary and modern critical essays about the book. The novel evidently had an important role in moving from the romantic to the realist period in literature, but I am in no way a literature major and cannot explain this in detail. I know from reading the essays and letters that Flaubert was trying to create a novel that was not dependent on the story, that was basically the prose form of poetry, art created within writing, and he would spend days rewriting a couple of pages. I found the characters rather despicable, but the descriptions very beautiful. I think this is what moving from romantic to realist and with the effort on making perfect prose means, at least on a level I can understand it. Would I recommend it? Possibly. It is without a doubt beautifully written. It's not something "just for fun", though. The characters are not very likeable, and while the novel is beautifully written like a painting, it is tragic.
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