Dance She Must, Over Field and Meadow, c1930. An illustration from The Red Shoes by Hans Christian Andersen. From Hans Andersens Fairy Tales by Hans Andersen. [Hodder and Stoughton Limited for Boots Pure Drug Co. Ltd, London, c1930] I was entirely captured by Madame Bovary when I first read it. I was a young newly married woman like Emma, but unlike her, I was (mostly) happy and satisfied. I also lived in 2004 when women had a lot more freedom, opportunity and personal agency. I had lots in common with my husband, unlike Emma who found her husband under-educated and boorish. Madam Bovary captivated me so much that I described it as my favourite novel for a decade. I felt that the cautionary message of discontent spiralling into infidelity, deceit, parental neglect and debt was one our culture needed, but what grasped me the most was Flaubert’s prose. His work avoids the cliched and flowery writing that was popular at the time he wrote and feels visceral and contemporary. H...
Sociology, Economics, Leadership