Emma Bovary, a doctor's wife in provincial 19th-century France, seeks escape from her mundane marriage through romantic affairs and extravagant spending. Flaubert's 1857 novel examines the gap between romantic ideals and reality in this foundational work of literary realism, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling.
We were in class when the head-master came in, followed by a “new fellow,” not wearing the school uniform, and a school servant carrying a large desk. Those who had been asleep woke up, and every one rose as if just surprised at his work. The head-master made a sign to us to sit down. Then, turning to the class-master, he said to him in a low voice-- “Monsieur Roger, here is a pupil whom I recommend to your care; he’ll be in the second. If his work and conduct are satisfactory, he will go into one of the upper classes, as becomes his age.”Continue reading →
This is the Eleanor Marx-Aveling translation, a public-domain English text. Marginalia presents it unabridged, with chapter navigation, your reading position saved, and optional AI commentary on any passage.
A meticulous French novelist of the 19th century, this literary perfectionist spent five years crafting each sentence of his masterpiece "Madame Bovary" (1857). His obsessive attention to style and psychological realism revolutionized modern fiction, influencing writers from Proust to Hemingway with his belief that the right word could capture any human experience. All works by Gustave Flaubert →
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