Madame Bovary

A full-length novel by French novelist Flaubert. Subtitled "Provincial Customs". Published in 1857. It was a laborious debut work that took five years to write, and is considered the author's masterpiece. Emma, ​​the wife of mediocre country doctor Charles Bovary, is passionate and dreamy, and is not satisfied with her husband. She has affairs with Rodolphe, a single landowner, and then with Léon, a notary public clerk. However, after accumulating debts without her husband's knowledge, she is at a loss and finally commits suicide by taking arsenic. This novel, which describes the actions of the female protagonist in a surprisingly frank manner for the time, attracted attention while it was being published in magazines, and in January 1857 the author was indicted for corrupting public morals, but was ultimately acquitted. This incident made the author's name known in the literary world, but the true value of this work lies in its strict stylistic refinement, its tight structure, and its relentless objectivity, which, unlike conventional psychological novels filled with abstract nouns, attempts to record the psychology of the characters in their monologues, conversations, and actions with a cold-hearted eye, and it is considered the first masterpiece of French realism. On the other hand, as the author's words, "Madame Bovary is me," indicate, the protagonist Emma shares the author's dreams of his youth and is brought to life from within by the author's sensitivity, so she cannot help but evoke in the reader a deep sympathy that cannot be obtained from a mere novel of manners.

[Yamada]

"Madame Bovary, translated by Takehiko Ibuki (Iwanami Bunko)" ▽ "Madame Bovary, translated by Katsuo Sugi (included in the Collected Works of World Literature, Vol. 28, 1966, Chikuma Shobo)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

フランスの小説家フロベールの長編小説。副題「地方風俗」。1857年刊。執筆に5年を費やした刻苦の処女作であり、作者の代表作と目される。凡庸な田舎(いなか)医者シャルル・ボバリーの妻エンマは多情多感で夢想的な性格なので、夫に飽き足らず、独身の地主ロドルフ、ついで公証人役場書記レオンを相手に情事を重ねるが、夫に内緒の借金がかさんだあげく進退窮まり、ついに砒素(ひそ)を飲んで自殺する。当時としては驚くべき赤裸々な描写で女主人公の行状を叙したこの小説は、雑誌に分載中から注目を浴び、1857年1月、作者は風俗壊乱のかどで起訴されたが、結局無罪となった。この事件は作者の名を一躍文壇に高からしめたが、この作品の真価はむしろ厳しい文体上の彫琢(ちょうたく)と緊密な構成とともに、抽象名詞を連ねた従来の心理小説とは違って、作中人物の心理を彼らの独白や会話や行為のうちに冷徹な目で記録しようとする仮借ない客観性にあり、フランス写実主義小説の最初の傑作とみなされる。一方「ボバリー夫人は私だ」という作者のことばが示すように、主人公エンマは作者の若き日の夢想を共有し、作者の感受性によって内面から生かされているために、単なる風俗小説からは得られない深い共感を読者の心に呼び起こさずにはいないのである。

［山田　］

『伊吹武彦訳『ボヴァリー夫人』（岩波文庫）』▽『杉捷夫訳『ボヴァリー夫人』（『世界文学全集　第28巻』所収・1966・筑摩書房）』

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