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 st[...]

Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) is widely regarded as one of the world's greatest novelists, whose work continues to influence and inspire writers, artists and musicians to this day. Determined from a young age to become a writer, Flaubert found sudden fame in 1857 when his first published novel, Madam[...]

Beautiful Emma Rouault yearns for the life of wealth, passion and romance she has encountered in popular sentimental fiction, and when her doctor, the well-meaning but awkward and unremarkable Charles Bovary, begins to pay her attention, she imagines that she may be granted her wish. However, after [...]

Castigated for offending against public decency, Madame Bovary has rarely failed to cause a storm. For Flaubert's contemporaries, the fascination came from the novelist's meticulous account of provincial matters. For the writer, subject matter was subordinate to his anguished quest for aesthetic per[...]

Considered one of the most influential novels ever written, Madame Bovary is a true literary masterpiece. Often described as 'the perfect novel', Madame Bovary is said to have had an influence on modern fiction that is so profound it is difficult to perceive. It relates the tale of a bored and unsat[...]