Madame Bovary

(Oxford World's Classics Hardcovers)

By Margaret Mauldon, Malcolm Bowie, Gustave Flaubert, Malcolm (INT)/ Overstall, Margaret/ Bowie, Gustave/ Mauldon, Mark Overstall, Mark Haddon

(653)

| Hardcover | 9780192805492

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Book Description

Henry James once said of "Madame Bavary, "Emma Bovary's poor adventures are a tragedy for the very reason that in a world unsuspecting, unassisting, unconsoling, she has herself in distil the rich and the rare. Ignorant, unguided, ridden by the very nature and mixture of her consciousness, she makesContinue

7 Reviews

1 person find this helpful

excerpt from a diary, written by The Brothers Goncourt, 1861

'Flaubert said to us today: "The story, the plot of a novel is of no interest to me. When I write a novel I aim at rendering a colour, a shade. [...] In Madame Bovary, all I wanted to do was to render a grey colour, the mouldy colour of a wood-louse's existence"'

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goldtop said on Apr 9, 2010 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

1 person find this helpful

One needs to read several versions to realize how different translations affect interpretation ... A good book to use for applying the Lacanian Paradigm/critical analysis

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Shelle said on Dec 18, 2007 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Il "bovarismo" è una terribile malattia dell'anima che affigge ormai tutto il mondo. Fondamentale capirlo se si vuole risanare la società occidentale: Non c'è più nessuno che vive contento di quello che è e che fa. La carta di credito ti fa credere di essere onnipotente, ti fa sognare mondi fantasti ... (continue)

Il "bovarismo" è una terribile malattia dell'anima che affigge ormai tutto il mondo. Fondamentale capirlo se si vuole risanare la società occidentale: Non c'è più nessuno che vive contento di quello che è e che fa. La carta di credito ti fa credere di essere onnipotente, ti fa sognare mondi fantastici dei quali diventerai imperatore. Le star della televisioni ti ammiccano e ti lasciano capire che sei uno di loro, in confronto i libri che fanno fantasticare Emma sono giocattoli: l'arsenico è inevitabile per tutti!

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Leone said on Feb 10, 2012 | Add your feedback

Ho odiato Emma. Un personaggio volubile, egoista e superficiale. Dato che il libro era incentrato su di lei non mi è piaciuto. le descrizioni di Flaubert poi sono da suicidio, lunghe e pesanti.

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HollyMoon said on Jan 12, 2012 about the Others edition | Add your feedback

*** This comment contains spoilers! ***

Don't read this book!! It is uber-depressing!!! I finished it several years ago, and I have yet to find a way to purge my brain of the disturbing mental images of the main character in her death throes at the close of the novel. Ugh.

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Enkato said on Aug 2, 2010 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Classic French Authors

They all seem to have something in common: overly long descriptions. They also seem to have a great command of language, as they employ their vocabulary to its best possible use. But they do it too much.
There's an incessant need to describe every detail of every object or person in each scene ... (continue)

They all seem to have something in common: overly long descriptions. They also seem to have a great command of language, as they employ their vocabulary to its best possible use. But they do it too much.
There's an incessant need to describe every detail of every object or person in each scene, so much so that the story gets lost in page-long paragraphs about the colour of a doily. Flaubert is a big culprit in this sense. The story itself is not too bad, though I couldn't care less about the titular heroine.
Which brings me to my next point. Everywhere you go, this novel is compared to Don Quixote. Why? Because the main character appears to make stupid mistakes all over the place. That's it. There's no sarcastic put-downs of other examples of the genre, no stupid-but-loyal sidekick (I suppose her husband comes close, but it's hardly the same thing), and no deep social commentary. It's there in dribs and drabs, but compared to Don Quixote, this is a trashy novel.
It was a struggle to get through this book, due to the dense language and flowery descriptions. What there is of story is good, and interesting enough to make it worth reading, as long as you have the patience. And Emma is a weak central character; everyone else seems much more rounded and interesting. A shame, as it could have been much more enjoyable.

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Daniel Peachey said on Apr 10, 2009 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback