Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary: A Reference Guide

(Hardback)

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Description

This comprehensive reference begins with an introductory chapter that overviews Flaubert's life and career. A detailed summary of the novel's plot is followed by a close examination of the novel's genesis, its publication history, and the merits of various editions and translations. Later chapters discuss the social and cultural contexts informing the work, Flaubert's literary craftsmanship, and the novel's critical reception. The volume concludes with extensive bibliographic information. Flaubert's determination to achieve stylistic and structural perfection led to the creation of his masterpiece, Madame Bovary. The achievement was long considered the exemplary novel in Western literature, and writers remain deeply indebted to its legacy.

Reviews

"This work strives to be comprehensive and balanced regarding Madame Bovary, which has elicited innumerable critical responses, and the division of labor between two very different scholars is an appropriate response to this task....[t]his reference guide is an excellent resource, an invaluable tool for those whose study of the great novel is just beginning, and a useful way to broaden horizons for those who have already had that pleasure."-International Fiction Review
Given the novel's wide usage in literature courses, virually all academic librarians will appreciate this book. Under-graduates beginning a paper or graduate students completing a thesis will all find much useful material herein.-Catholic Library World.
This work strives to be comprehensive and balanced regarding Madame Bovary, which has elicited innumerable critical responses, and the division of labor between two very different scholars is an appropriate response to this task....[t]his reference guide is an excellent resource, an invaluable tool for those whose study of the great novel is just beginning, and a useful way to broaden horizons for those who have already had that pleasure.-International Fiction Review
"Given the novel's wide usage in literature courses, virually all academic librarians will appreciate this book. Under-graduates beginning a paper or graduate students completing a thesis will all find much useful material herein."-Catholic Library World.

Author Bio

LAURENCE M. PORTER is Professor of French and Comparative Literature at Michigan State University. His previous books include A Gustave Flaubert Encyclopedia (2001). EUGENE F. GRAY is Professor of French at Michigan State University. His essays have appeared in such journals as Nineteenth-Century French Studies and The French Review.