Flaubert: Madame Bovary

Key features

• 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