Realizing that I haven't read any books in the past days, I randomly chose a book from my "to read" shelf and came across Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary. It was a book that I wanted to read for a long time and could not read it, and frankly, I did not know what to expect. Anyway, when I buy a book, sometimes I buy it randomly without examining the subject because sometimes I want to be surprised by what I will come across while reading. Just like in Madame Bovary.
I started reading without knowing what awaited me. Of course, while I was reading, I guessed that I would read something about the life of a female character because of her name, but I encountered things that I did not expect. That's what I love the most, I like little surprises.
I want to talk about the subject briefly;
It tells about the relationships and experiences of Doctor Charles, who leads an ordinary life, to get rid of the boring life of his wife Emma Bovary, who has high ideals and is passionate about an extremely luxurious life.
It was the first time I read a work by Gustav Flaubert and I liked the author's style of expression and descriptions. Especially when reading Emma's tragic story, you understand very well that she dealt with the life of women of the period, the value judgments of society and hypocrisy. It describes the differences between poverty and wealth, the destructiveness of the bourgeoisie very well. I think you did the bourgeois criticism quite well.
After reading it, I understood why the novel was so important and why it was recommended by everyone. Because it is very close to real life and you feel like you are entering that life while reading. We can see that women like Madame Bovary still exist around us.
I was more interested in the novel and its story, as well as what the author did to write this book. As soon as the book was finished, I did a little research and learned information that surprised me. For example, the author examined the medical books in detail in order to better explain Emma's death to us and got sick after tasting the arsenic. The author wrote this book in a period of 5 years.
The term "Bovarism" was coined after this book.
Bovarism; It is used to express an individual's longing for a dream, imagining a life far beyond his own means, and running to reach that dream and disappearing for it.
Emma, who hates her husband, who cannot understand her passions, and who is after everything luxurious, cheats on Mr. Bovary many times with her desire to meet the love of her dreams.
If you are wondering about the tragic ending of this independent woman who followed her desires in 19th century French society, I think you should definitely read the book. After reading it, you can see that people like Emma still exist today. While reading, I sometimes got angry with Emma and sometimes I felt sad. I loved this book, where I had two feelings together, and I was sad to meet the author so late. Still, it's not too late for anything, is it?
Take care of yourselves. See you again,
love.