Publishing, the Rules of the Trade

Madame Bovary

Gustave Flaubert, 1857

In 1857, Gustave Flaubert defended his successful novel, Madame Bovary, against accusations of offending public morality. The court acquitted the famous author who was close to the government of that time. The judges recognised that Flaubert had respected public morality and that the sole aim of his novel had not been ‘to encourage sexual licence’.

Closing speech of Ernest Pinard, Imperial Prosecutor, in Gustave Flaubert, Œuvres, t. 1, p. 658