Perhaps no book in the history of the novel has been more enjoyed and praised by critics, fellow craftsmen and general readers of all sorts than this tale of a provincial woman who could not bear the discrepancy between her romantic dreams and the dull routine of her daily life. There is a special poignancy for most of us in the story of Emma Bovary, whose attempt to impose upon her humdrum life the substance of those dreams brought about her own dissolution. Francis Steegmuller is uniquely qualified to translate Flaubert's inimitable prose, the quality of which is almost as inaccessible to translation as is most poetry. Mr. Steegmuller's Flaubert and Madame Bovary is a contemporary classic, his selection and translation of Flaubert's letters outstanding, and his critical interpretation of Flaubert among the most acute.