“Bovarique” bodies from 19th century France to 20st century London

Authors

Andisheh Ghaderi, The University of British Columbia, VancouverFollow
Anoosheh Ghaderi, Louisiana State University at Baton RougeFollow

Abstract

Women’s bodies have always been charged by social associations that aim to control, shape, and discipline women. The frustrations and the ennui caused by sociocultural and political constraints push women to a state of existential crisis and eventually a erasure through biological death. Such vicious cycles had been depicted in the literary works to which Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary (1856) serves as a prominent example. Flaubert’s protagonist, Emma Bovary represents the pathway of a young, provincial, woman to a tragic adulthood filled with banality, emptiness, and despair. Objects, ranging from journals to clothes, are omnipresent in Emma’s life and shape her desires. Surrounded by banality, the protagonist fails to have or create a meaningful existence. Emma Bovary’s story was adapted in the form of a graphic novel entitled Gemma Bovery (2000). The author, Posy Simmonds, created an updated version of Emma Bovary who live in 20^th-century London. This graphic novel offers a new perspective about ‘bovarism’; For Simmonds, bovarism forms when the patriarchal society imagines and defines a certain destiny for women. The present paper aims to account for women’s bodies as “bovarique” entities destined to tragic endings in the patriarchal societies.

Recommended Citation

Ghaderi, Andisheh and Ghaderi, Anoosheh (2021) "“Bovarique” bodies from 19th century France to 20st century London," Tête à Tête: Journal of Francophone Studies: Vol. 1, Article 4.
Available at: https://repository.lsu.edu/tete_a_tete/vol1/iss1/4