Works translated from other languages are sometimes written in easily readable language, while scholarly translators aim to reproduce the nuances of an author's diction. The best advice for readers of any translation is to do as the new student does in Chapter 1 of Madame Bovary: "We saw him working conscientiously, looking up every word in the dictionary, and taking the greatest pains."
The Question and Answer section for Madame Bovary is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.
Emma, who has no maternal instincts, allows her daughter, Berthe, to be raised by the house help.
In my opinion, the thing that makes Emma most obviously provincial is her desire for money and her inability to understand the working of commerce.
Madam "Madame Bovary" longs to escape the bourgeois provincialism. Educated in a convent and raised in the country, Emma marries Charles Bovary at a young age, Emma dreams of a more romantic, sophisticated, and passionate life, often lapsing into...
