Madame Bovary (Modern Library) - Hardcover

Flaubert, Gustave

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0679600132 ISBN 13: 9780679600138

Publisher: Modern Library, 1992

Synopsis

Madame Bovary is perhaps the first "modern" novel.  It has always been the most popular of Flaubert's books, and the character of Emma Bovary, a beautiful young woman longing to escape from her dull husband and the constrictions of bourgeois life, is one of the most compelling figures in all literature.  The story of her adulteries and financial ruin was so shocking to mid-nineteenth-century readers that the author was charged with "offenses against public morals and religion."  Flaubert's style, with its elegant, sculpted sentences and passionately observed detail, is rendered here in the classic translation by Francis Steegmuller, who has written widely on Flaubert and is the editor and translator of his letters.

About this title

From the Publisher:

This exquisite novel tells the story of one of the most compelling heroines in modern literature--Emma Bovary. Unhappily married to a devoted, clumsy provincial doctor, Emma revolts against the ordinariness of her life by pursuing voluptuous dreams of ecstasy and love. But her sensuous and sentimental desires lead her only to suffering corruption and downfall. A brilliant psychological portrait, Madame Bovary searingly depicts the human mind in search of transcendence. Who is Madame Bovary? Flaubert's answer to this question was superb: "Madame Bovary, c'est moi." Acclaimed as a masterpiece upon its publication in 1857, the work catapulted Flaubert to the ranks of the world's greatest novelists. This volume, with its fine translation by Lowell Bair, a perceptive introduction by Leo Bersani, and a complete supplement of essays and critical comments, is the indispensable Madame Bovary.

From the Back Cover:

"Flaubert, by a single phrase--a notation of some commonplace object--can convey all the poignance of human desire, the pathos of human defeat; his description of some homely scene will close with a dying fall that reminds one of great verse or music." --Edmund Wilson

About this edition

• Publisher: Modern Library
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0679600132
• ISBN 13: 9780679600138
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 445