Madame Bovary
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- $0.99
Publisher Description
Once considered scandalizingly immoral, Flaubert’s exquisite debut novel unsparingly depicts a woman’s gradual corruption and the human mind in search of transcendence. Unhappily married to a devoted, clumsy local doctor, Emma fulfils her epicurean dreams of ecstasy and love by indulging in a passionate affair with Rodolphe. Apprehending the dire consequences, she takes the firm and final move which none could have ever dreamt of. The realistic style and rich descriptions—the soft-focused imaginings, a suggestive smile or phrase, the desire and search for seclusion, the breathless rush to the lover’s arms and the sensuous embrace, the fear of exposure, the financial outlay, the ever-growing disinterest and recklessness, the frequent violent arguments and impossible demands, the violation of promises, mutual recrimination and the tearful break-up—make this brilliant psychological portrait, Madame Bovary, a masterpiece, as Frank O’ Connor has remarked, “possibly the most beautifully written book ever composed;…a book that invites superlatives…the most important novel of the century.”
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.
