Perhaps we identify with Emma because we too feel an emptiness at the center of thingsan emptiness we try to fill with books with fantasies with sex with things. Her yearning is nothing more or less than the human condition in the modern world. Her search for ecstasy is ours.Erica Jong Madame Bovaryhas a perfection that not only stamps it but that makes it stand almost alone it holds itself with such a supreme unapproachable assurance as both excites and defies judgment.Henry James When Gustave Flauberts debut novel Madame Bovary 1856 was published it had already created a great storm of both repulsion and profound admiration it is now recognized as one of the most important works of literature ever written.