Madame Bovary - Representations of the Masculine (Paperback)

Contents: This study contextualises the novel's Fathers against the very male cameo worlds of La Vaubyessard and Les Comices so that the novel's Sons can then be compared and contrasted to the role models set before them. As the male characters negotiate shifting values of the masculine, one generation in Madame Bovary plots the status of the other. Explicit judgement and implicit criticisms of male failures emerge across the board, not least in the final part of the analysis. Here, the social conditioning of the three women who share the name 'Madame Bovary' conveys much about expectations of men in their respective generations.