Madame Bovary

Original title: Madame Bovary

Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880), trans. Eleanor Marx-Aveling

Original en 115550 words First published 1857 France

Flaubert's 1857 masterpiece, the novel that perfected literary realism and put its author on trial for immorality. Emma Bovary, a doctor's wife in provincial Normandy, is intoxicated by romantic novels — and, married to a kind but dull husband, tries to live out the passions and luxuries they promised her, through adultery and debt. Flaubert's obsession with le mot juste, the exact word, produced prose of unprecedented precision; his portrait of a woman destroyed by borrowed dreams has never been equalled. This edition uses Eleanor Marx-Aveling's translation.

Text sourced from Project Gutenberg (public domain in the United States); the Project Gutenberg trademark and license text have been removed on import. Public-domain status determined by the author's death year + 50 years rule.

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