Madame Bovary (37)

"Why, for Heaven's sake, did I marry?"

The following books will introduce you to Emma Bovary, who said these words in Flaubert's Madame Bovary (Paul de Man, trans.).

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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.