Madame Bovary ~ saving Gustave Flaubert ~ 1978, Easton Press ~ Illustrated, Blue Leather, Integral Bookmark, Edges Gilt, Spine Hubs ~ Fine

Madame Bovary

by Gustave Flaubert

Translated by J. Lewis May

Introduction by Jaques De Lacretelle

Illustrations by Pierre Brissaud

The 100 Greatest Books Ever Written

Collector's Edition

Bound in Genuine Leather

1978, The Easton Press, Norwalk, Connecticut

Sewn binding. Blue leather over boards with gilt decoration on front saving and back and design and lettering on spine. Integral ribbon marker sewn in. Four spine hubs. All edges of leaves gilt. Moiré endpapers. 10",384 pages, publisher's preface, foreword, list of engravings, Author's Dedication, illustrations

Near Fine condition. Ribbon bookmark looks to have never been moved. First several leaves have light crease at the tips.

From the Foreword

Published in 1857, "Madame Bovary" created a great stir. Criminal proceedings, instituted on the charge that the subject of the book was of an immoral nature, gave the crowning touch to its success. (Flaubert was acquitted.) The literary critics of the time, Sainte-Beuve included, were less enthusiastic than the public. some upbraided the author for his vulgarity, failing to realize that this vulgarity was intentional; that Flaubert had deliberately se out to show how close to the ground fancy and poetry can fly, and yet hold their flight. Others raised the cry of 'cynicism'. But Flaubert's cynicism is that of a genial giant who strips men of their clothes to make them see their ugliness and then. with a guffaw, bids them begone.

What is indisputable, in any case, is the influence "Madame Bovary" has had on French literature. Maupassant, Zola and the whole 'naturalist' school owe much to him and, broadcast by them. his message has been carried beyond the frontiers of France. But how much superior to his disciples is the master! How sadly poetic feeling and even ordinary irony are lacking, oftener than not, in his successors!

Perhaps it may interest my readers to hear that Flaubert's famous heroine has given her name to a psychological concept. 'Bovaryism' is the mental state of one who, under the domination of imagination and daydreams, fancies himself other than he is and ends by banning reality from his life. It is a sort of concentrated, repressed romanticism that has no wings to soar and ends up, more often than not, in utter nihilism. To put it in a simpler way, 'Bovaryism' means letting the imagination run wild and all the evils that ensue. Seen from this angle, the application of Flaubert's book would seem still wider than is generally admitted. And there would be an Emma Bovary in each of us, men and women alike.

BEP