# Dedication explained — Madame Bovary

> Chapter companion for Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert.

## 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 lines

> 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._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/madame_bovary_se/chapters/dedication
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/madame_bovary_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/madame_bovary_se/chapters