LS261 Café Littéraire: Madame Bovary, by Gustav Flaubert

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert is a landmark novel of 19th-century French literature that explores the tensions between romantic ideals and mundane reality. It follows Emma Bovary, a provincial doctor’s wife who yearns for passion, luxury, and a life of excitement beyond the confines of her dull marriage and small-town life. Influenced by romantic novels and disillusioned with domesticity, Emma engages in affairs and spends recklessly in pursuit of beauty and meaning. But her attempts to escape lead only to emotional turmoil and financial ruin. Flaubert’s style—precise, ironic, and emotionally restrained—offers a penetrating portrait of a woman’s desires clashing with societal expectations. The novel was controversial at the time of its publication in 1857, leading to an obscenity trial, but has since become a foundational work in literary realism. Madame Bovary remains a powerful study of disillusionment, longing, and the tragic costs of self-deception.

Two spaces are reserved for new WICE members. If no new WICE members have registered before 19 September, those two spaces will become available to the general WICE membership.

The book group meets at the organizer's apartment. The directions, door code, telephone number, etc., are sent in the 7-day and 1-day reminder emails, following registration.

Registration for the September meeting opens on 01 September 2025.