Madame Bovary

Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880), French novelist and one of the masters of nineteenth-century fiction, was born in Rouen, the second son of a noted physician. Beset by ill health and personal misfortune, he led a solitary life of rigid discipline, which was reflected in his writing by his obsession with finding le mot juste (exactly the right word). His first published novel was Madame Bovary (1857). When certain passages in Madame Bovarywere judged to be offensive to public morals, Flaubert, his publisher, and his printer were tried but acquitted.