<DIV>For this novel of French bourgeois life in all its inglorious banality, Flaubert invented a paradoxically original and wholly modern style. His heroine, Emma Bovary, a bored provincial housewife, abandons her husband to pursue the libertine Rodolphe in a<BR> desperate love affair. A succès de scandale in its day, <B>Madame Bovary</B> remains a powerful and arousing novel. <p><br> <b>@TheRealDesperateHousewife </b> My sadness is bothersome. He says I need to change scenery. That will help like a trip to Italy cures TB. What I need is a good poking. <br><br> <b>From </b> </div>