Madame Bovary
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
One of the greatest novels ever written!
Gustave Flaubert is arguably one of the greatest novelists of all time. His first novel, Madame Bovary, was published in 1856 and is considered a literary masterpiece by critics and scholars. His skillful wordsmithing combined with the scandal surrounding the novel launched it into notoriety. The story focuses on a doctor’s wife, Emma, a tragic heroine who attempts to escape her boring provincial life by having multiple affairs and living beyond her means. Madame Bovary is a terrific example of Gustave Flaubert’s determination and his execution of capturing the details of modern realism.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Glenda Jackson hits the mark in this superb narration of Flaubert's classic novel. Her reading perfectly captures the restlessness of Emma Bovary, a character perpetually dissatisfied with her solid, steady husband and bourgeois life in provincial 19th-century France. Emma's unrealistic dreams (she yearns for a perfect, romantic love that will sweep her away into perpetual bliss) lead her into one affair after another, and then to financial ruin and suicide. Jackson is especially outstanding in the scene which takes place the night before Emma plans to run off with her lover, Rudolf. To Rudolf, Emma is just one in a long series of conquests, and he gets cold feet at the thought of being permanently responsible for her welfare and that of her child. In a swoony, sighing voice full of noble suffering, Jackson reads his flowery letter of tears and regret, saying he loves her too much to ruin her life and her reputation. Then, without missing a beat, she switches to smug, cynical satisfaction, as Rudolf admires the letter and congratulates himself on his close escape.
