Facts about Madame Bovary

1. 05

   Set in provincial Normandy, Madame Bovary follows a doctor's wife whose adulterous affairs and extravagant spending lead to her financial ruin and tragic death.

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2. 04

   Flaubert's meticulous prose style in Madame Bovary is often cited as a foundational influence on the development of literary realism in the novel form.

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3. 03

   Emma Bovary, the novel's protagonist, is widely regarded as one of literature's most influential portrayals of romantic disillusionment and bourgeois unhappiness.

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4. 02

   The 1857 serialization of Madame Bovary in the Revue de Paris was censored and truncated, leading to an obscenity trial against Flaubert and his publisher that ultimately acquitted them.

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5. 01

   Gustave Flaubert spent nearly six years writing Madame Bovary, publishing the novel in 1857 after meticulous stylistic revision.

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