∗desire and disillusionment in provincial french life
He thought less of her as he grew accustomed to living alone.
The new delight of independence soon made his loneliness bearable.
Something always remains at the bottom as one would say--a weight here, …
His mind grew weary, and, sleep coming upon him, he soon fell into a doz…
∗Gustave Flaubert's masterpiece follows Emma Bovary, a provincial wife whose romantic delusions and adultery lead to tragic ruin in 1850s France.
A woman's romantic fantasies collide with dreary reality.
1857
A companion to
Madame Bovary
Gustave Flaubert
To
Marie-Antoine-Jules Senard
Member of the Paris Bar, Ex-President of the National Assembly, and
Former Minister of the Interior
Dear and Illustrious Friend,
Permit me to inscribe your name at the head of this book, and above its
dedication; for it is to you, before all, that I owe its publication.
Reading over your magnificent defence, my work has acquired for myself,
as it were, an unexpected authority.
Accept, then, here, the homage of my gratitude, which, how great soever
it is, will never attain the height of your eloquence and your
devotion.
Gustave Flaubert,
Paris, 12 April 1857