← All chapters
Madame Bovary · Chapter
Dedication explained
A formal dedication of the book to Marie-Antoine-Jules Senard, a lawyer and politician, crediting him for the book's publication and praising his eloquent legal defense.
What happens
A formal dedication of the book to Marie-Antoine-Jules Senard, a lawyer and politician, crediting him for the book's publication and praising his eloquent legal defense.
Key passages
“Permit me to inscribe your name at the head of this book, and above its dedication; for it is to you, before all, that I owe its publication.”
The author dedicates the book to Senard, acknowledging him as the primary reason the book was published.
Highlights the legal and personal debt Flaubert felt to his defender.
“Reading over your magnificent defence, my work has acquired for myself, as it were, an unexpected authority.”
Senard's legal defense of the novel gave Flaubert's own work a new sense of legitimacy and weight.
Shows how the public trial and legal justification impacted the author's perception of his creation.