Ranks 37th on The Fictional
100
The following books and film will introduce you to Emma Bovary, who
said these words in Flaubert's Madame Bovary (Paul de Man, trans.). To order a book or film, or for more information, follow the title links to Amazon.com,
or return home to browse other
characters.
- Flaubert, Gustave. Madame
Bovary (Norton Critical Edition; Paul de Man,
Trans.). Norton, 1965.
- Flaubert's tale of this born seductress trapped
in a dull village with a dull husband defined the
techniques of the modern novel.
- Vargas Llosa, Mario. The
Perpetual Orgy: Flaubert and Madame Bovary (Helen
Lane, Trans.). New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux,
1986.
- This Peruvian novelist and one-time presidential
candidate confesses his lifelong love affair with
the character of Emma Bovary and pays eloquent
tribute to the novel that gave her such
passionate life.
- Barnes, Julian. Flaubert's
Parrot. Vintage, 1990.
- Barnes' essays on Flaubert's artistry are as
idiosyncratic as his subject. See the chapter on
"Emma Bovary's Eyes," which uses her
ambiguous eye-color as the catalyst for his
observations.
- Bloom, Harold (Ed.). Emma
Bovary (Major Literary Characters). Chelsea House,
1993.
- Critical extracts and essays introduce the reader
to major critical responses to this character.
- Madame Bovary (1991)
[DVD]. Starring Isabelle Huppert. KOCH Lorber Films, 2008.
- Claude Chabrol's film realizes Gustave Flaubert's masterpiece, chiefly through its faithful adaptation, but most especially through the luminous performance of Isabelle Huppert, who embodies Emma as weary, passionate, and desperate in the three phases of her life. Watching Emma strive for freedom, yet careen toward self-destruction, is to meet one of literature's most alluring and tragic figures.
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