Madame Bovary
(Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
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3.2 • 113 Ratings
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
The award-winning, nationally bestselling translation, by Lydia Davis, of one of the world’s most celebrated novels
“The best English version by far, because its deadpan reminds us that the book is both a great realist novel and a satire of realism.” —Merve Emre, The New Yorker
Emma Bovary is the original desperate housewife. Beautiful but bored, she spends lavishly on clothes and on her home and embarks on two disappointing affairs in an effort to make her life everything she believes it should be. Soon heartbroken and crippled by debts, she takes drastic action, with tragic consequences for her husband and daughter. In this landmark new translation of Gustave Flaubert's masterwork, award-winning writer and translator Lydia Davis honors the nuances and particulars of Flaubert's legendary prose style, giving new life in English to the book that redefined the novel as an art form.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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.
Customer Reviews
Rambling and Tragically Entertaining
This book summarizes the tragic lives of an unfortunate couple who cannot seem to find any personal happiness. The writing style is rambling and a bit irreverent, which makes it humorous. (For example, see the last paragraph.) The descriptions of people and events are entertaining to read, even if they have very little to do with the main plot. The ending is tragic and it seems like the author wants to punish all these characters for some unknown reason.
A fine translation
Madame Bovary has a number of good translation, as well as a few that are less than special. With this book, it really does come down to the translation. Gustave Flaubert was such a perfectionist that he wrote only 25 words a day,
The present translation is precise, but absorbing. I doubt you'll find a better translation out there.