As a provocative tale of passion and complacency, ideals and self-delusions, Madame Bovary (1857) remains a milestone in European fiction. In telling his story of Emma Bovaryβa farmerβs daughter who, with girlhood dreams fuelled by sensational novels, marries a provincial doctorβFlaubert inaugurated a literary mode that would be called Realism. But so exacting were Flaubertβs standards of authenticity that his portrayal of the breakdown of Emmaβs marriage, and the frankness with which he treats her adulterous liaisons, scandalized many of his contemporaries. Yet to others, the mix of painful introspection, emotional blindness, and cynical self-seeking that distinguishes his characters made the novel instantly recognizable as a work of genius. It is a novel fixed upon the idea of romanceβof the need for Romanceβin the face of day-to-day banalities. It is a theme that is ironic insofar as the exquisite clarity of Flaubertβs prose serves to hauntingly underline the futility of the heroineβs ultimate tragedy.