Flaubert and Don Quijote – The Influence of Cervantes on Madame Bovary

This book tells the story of how Flaubert's admiration for Cervantes'Don Quijote;unfolded, and how profoundly it shaped and influenced Flaubert's ambition and his approach to all his major works, beginning with his breakthrough novelMadame Bovary;. It thus fills a major gap in the history of the novel and explores, for the first time, just what Flaubert meant when he said, while writingBovary;: "Je retrouve toutes mes origins dans le livre que je savais par coeur avant de savoir lire,Don Quichotte;"(I can trace all my origins back to the book I knew by heart). Several cultural and personal factors converged to establish the prominent place ofDon Quijote;in Flaubert's imagination, and these are dealt with in depth in the book. But it is the profound parallels between the two novels that clearly illustrate howDon Quijote;permeatesMadame Bovary;in both subject and approach. One such parallel is Alonso Quijano and Emma Bovary's desire to imitate fiction, which reflects a kind of literary madness in which the attempt to impose the narrative conventions of romances on life only leads hero and heroine, respectively, to destruction, disappointment, and ultimately death. The borrowings and the transpositions are substantial and endless; and indeed the influence did not stop atBovary;, for Flaubert's latergrands romans;, including the rewrittenEducation Sentimentale;andBouvard et Pcuchet;, also display thequixotic;hallmark. This study situates each author in his respective historical and aesthetic context, and provides key examples fromDon Quijote;andMadame Bovary;, Flaubert'sCorrespondence;, as well as his earlier novels. Flaubert's letters and novels show how the French author penetrated deeply into Cervantes'novelistic approach and how his relationship toDon Quijote;directly shaped his success at the crux of his career.