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Welcome back to The Invisible College, my series of literature courses for paid subscribers. The introduction to and schedule for the 2025 season is here. The 2024 archive is here. This episode, the fourth in a sequence on modern western world literature, concerns Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary. I discuss Flaubert’s position at the intersection of Romanticism, realism, and modernism; his hatred of the bourgeoisie; his nihilism and irony; his war against cliché and search for le mot juste; his skepticism about language and progress; the novel’s obscenity trial and lack of a moral viewpoint; its several famous set pieces; and much more. Please like, share, comment, and subscribe! The slideshow corresponding to the episode can be downloaded behind the paywall: