Great Books: Madame Bovary

Confession of a heretic: while recognizing that most of the civilized world regards Gustave Flaubert's 1857 novel as a literary classic, this particular philistine considers it to be 1) a bodice ripper (albeit better written, with the obvious advantage of an examination of mid-19th century French society) that is 2) much too long and rather--for a naturalistic work--unbelievable (when Emma Bovary is jilted by her wily seducer Rudolf, she takes to her bed for months). Of course, perhaps like the occasional bad batch of oranges, I read a less-than-stellar translation. No matter; Great Books: Madame Bovary, to its credit, not only makes this tale of a girl who just wants to have fun seem more interesting and carefully composed, it also made me consider revisiting the novel. Combining interviews with scholars and writer Erica Jong, together with mini-dramatizations accompanied by voiceover readings from the text, the program offers a brief overview of Flaubert's life, summarizes the novel's plot, and introduces the major themes of the book (such as illusion [i.e., Emma] vs. reality [i.e., the world]). In love with love, Emma Bovary is notable not so much for her ponderously slow transformation from vaguely dissatisfied housewife to eager adulteress, but rather because Flaubert allows us, the readers, to be fly-on-the-wall witnesses to Emma's tortured psyche. An accompanying study guide includes relevant vocabulary ("adultery", "bourgeois", etc.) and discussion questions. Recommended. Other new titles in the Great Books series include: The Autobiography of Malcolm X, 1984 and The Grapes of Wrath. Aud: H, C, P. (R. Pitman)