Doamna Bovary

Emma Bovary longs for more than her dull small-town life. She is beautiful but bored. She feels trapped in marriage to a rather plain doctor. The love stories she reads feed her hopes of passion. She seeks escape in dreams, rash spending, and affairs. But her lovers let her down, with dire results.

Gustave Flaubert’s novel explores desire and the lies people tell themselves. It also shows how women’s lives face strict limits. Emma may seem like a dreamer who yearns for love. Or she may seem a restless wife who depends on others. She neglects her role as a mother but fights middle-class rules. These conflicts leave room for more than one view of her motives.

Flaubert pairs themes of sex with a close look at Emma’s mind. The novel sparked outrage when it first came out. Flaubert stood trial on a charge of obscenity for his portrayal. Some women felt Emma was so true to life that they claimed she was based on them. Her story has drawn readers from one age to the next.

This edition is volume 36 in the Romane nemuritoare series.