Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (Book Analysis) E-Book

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• Herausgeber: BrightSummaries.com
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Serie: BrightSummaries.com
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 23

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

Unlock the more straightforward side of Madame Bovary with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!

This engaging summary presents an analysis of Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, which tells the story of Emma and her desperate attempts to find excitement and passion to fuel her miserable life. The novel is now considered to be the author's greatest masterpiece, perfectly showcasing his love for a free indirect style and the inner monologue. When first released, however, it was met with scandal due to its realistic portrayal of life and society but it was gradually recognised that this was Flaubert's signature style: Realism. For anybody wanting a truthful depiction of life in France during the 19th century, this is an unmissable read.
 
Find out everything you need to know about Madame Bovary in a fraction of the time!

This in-depth and informative reading guide brings you:
   • A complete plot summary
   • Character studies
   • Key themes and symbols
   • Questions for further reflection

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Leseprobe

Gustave Flaubert

French writer

Born in Rouen in 1821Died near Rouen in 1880Notable works:Salammbô (1862), novelSentimental Education (1869), novelBouvard et Pécuchet (1881), unfinished novel

Gustave Flaubert was born in 1821 in Rouen. Passionate about writing, he discovered his literary vocation at a very young age. In 1841, he moved to Paris to begin studies in law, which he quickly abandoned. The author then settled in Croisset, along the Seine, and began frequenting the literary societies of the time. He befriended people such as Charles Baudelaire (French poet, 1821-1867), Ivan Turgenev (Russian writer, 1818-1883), George Sand (French woman of letters, 1804-1876) and Guy de Maupassant (French writer, 1850-1893), for whom he would be a role model.

An obsessive perfectionist, he defended reflexive literature and dreamed of writing ‘a book about nothing’. His work, which is also distinguished by the depth of the psychological study of the characters, serves as a taste of the many developments that the novel would undergo in the 20th century. Flaubert died in 1880, leaving behind several unfinished novels and extensive correspondence.

Madame Bovary

Portrait of a bourgeois lady

Genre: novelReference edition: Flaubert, G. (1847) Madame Bovary. New York: Brentano’s Pulishers.First edition: 1856Themes: boredom, love, marriage, adultery, despair, suicide

Inspired by a news item in Normandy, the novel Madame Bovary was first published in 1856 in the form of a serialized novel in the Revue de Paris, before appearing as a single volume in 1857. After its publication, the novel was a source of scandal: action was brought against Flaubert for immorality. He was later acquitted of the charge.

Madame Bovary portrays a young bourgeois lady who is bored in her marriage and seeks comfort from passing lovers. The novel launched a true revolution in prose: the psychological complexity of the characters, the impersonal narration and the multiple points of view force the reader to draw their own interpretation of the work. Madame Bovary achieved great posterity in the twentieth century, during which it became an inexhaustible subject of study.

Summary

Part one

Charles Bovary, a “country boy”, begins school in Rouen in the fifth grade. A poor and mediocre student, he still manages to rise to the position of health official. His mother forces him to marry a rich widow who soon dies of despair as she has been ruined by her notary.