Flaubert's proto-feminist tearjerker inspired Avital Ronell to write a whole book riffing on it: Crack Wars: Literature, Addiction, Mania. In this book, our favorite deconstructionist diva relates Madame Bovary to later forms of drug addiction. And there's solid motivation for Ronnell's readings of Flaubert's work.
His text does seem to look forward to more recent darker times.
But put on your thinking caps, and mull over these questions, if you dare:
- What does Madame Bovary suggest about the relationship between literature and life? Is there anything deconstructive about the novel's lesson?
- Flaubert's text opens in a schoolroom. What do you make of this opening, and how do you think it prepares the reader (or doesn't prepare the reader) for the events "to come"?