Gustave Flaubert

Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert

Publisher Marketing: Madame Bovary (1856) is the French writer Gustave Flaubert's first published novel. 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, even archetypal, the novel's true art lies in its details and hidden patterns. Flaubert was a notorious perfectionist and claimed always to be searching for le mot juste ("the precise word"). When it was first serialized in La Revue de Paris between 1 October 1856 and 15 December 1856, the novel was attacked for obscenity by public prosecutors. The resulting trial, held in January 1857, made the story notorious. After Flaubert's acquittal on 7 February 1857, Madame Bovary became a bestseller when it was published as a single volume in April 1857. Flaubert's masterpiece is now considered a seminal work of Realism and one of the most influential novels ever written. In fact, the notable British-American critic James Wood writes in How Fiction Works: "Flaubert established for good or ill, what most readers think of as modern realist narration, and his influence is almost too familiar to be visible." Review Citations: Atlantic Monthly 10/01/2004 pg. 175 (EAN 9781419131912, Paperback) Ingram Advance 05/01/2005 pg. 113 (EAN 9780192840394, Paperback) Booklist 11/15/1999 pg. 601 (EAN 9780679600138, Hardcover) Wilson Fiction Catalog 01/01/2006 pg. 312 (EAN 9780679420316, Hardcover) Wilson Fiction Catalog 01/01/2010 pg. 227 (EAN 9780679420316, Hardcover) New York Times Book Review 05/18/2014 pg. 14 (EAN 9781843798477, Compact Disc) Entertainment Weekly 07/05/2013 pg. 101 (EAN 9780486292571, Paperback) New York Times Book Review 10/14/2010 pg. 26 (EAN 9780670022076, Hardcover) New York Times Book Review 10/03/2010 pg. 14 (EAN 9780670022076, Hardcover) New York Times Book Review 10/10/2010 pg. 26 (EAN 9780670022076, Hardcover) Wilson Fiction Catalog 01/01/2011 pg. 28 (EAN 9780670022076, Hardcover) Wilson Fiction Catalog 01/01/2014 pg. 287 (EAN 9780670022076, Hardcover) Contributor Bio:  Flaubert, Gustave Known for his scrupulous devotion to his art and perfectionist style, French writer Gustave Flaubert is counted among the greatest Western novelists, and influenced such writers as Franz Kafka and J. M. Coetzee. Flaubert is best known for Madame Bovary, for which he was prosecuted (and acquitted) for offending public morals. His other works of note include Memoirs of a Madman, November, Salammb?, Sentimental Education, and The Temptation of Saint Anthony. His work has been widely adapted for the stage and screen. Flaubert died in 1880.