The book...
Madame Bovary (1856) is Gustave Flaubert's first published novel and is
considered his masterpiece. 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 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 in La Revue de Paris between 1 October 1856 and 15
December 1856, resulting in a trial in January 1857 that made the story
notorious. After the acquittal on 7 February 1857, it became a
bestseller when it was published as a book in April 1857, and now stands
virtually unchallenged not only as a seminal work of Realism, but as
one of the most influential novels ever written. (via HERE)
The author...
Two different movie adaptations of Madame Bovary...
1949
1991
Did YOU read this book? Have YOU seen either of these film versions?
