I just checked out Madame Bovary and Les Miserables in French and English

I just checked out Madame Bovary and Les Miserables in French and English

I think I'll read Le Mis first, but is Madame Bovary any good? I vaguely remember hearing about it at some point

Bovary is largely superior to Les Mis, à tout point de vue.

Don't call it Les Mis. Don't capitalize les if it isn't the beginning of a sentence. Emma is a MILF.

how is the prose in the translations? The one by flaubert is by lydia davis, and hugo's is translated charles wilbour

good to know
just starting out with french actually, I can read spanish already so hopefully it'll come faster

to be honest I think it's better to read Hugo in translation than Flaubert, if only because Hugo wrote so goddamn many books that you won't miss the thing you missed reading the first few. Save yourself for Madame Bovary. Also, before starting Madame Bovary you should definitely read up on its genesis, it will help you get more things and will actually make the plot seem more interesting.
good luck!

Madame Bovary is historically significant to literature. It isn't good outside of that context.
Oh and also, people are going to come in here about translations, translations, so on: Flaubert's prose is, despite what many people (most of whom can't read French) will maintain, nothing much. He's a precursor to invisible prose. It doesn't matter if you read a translation.

Mme. Bovary is good but not quite the best Flaubert.

What a load of horseshit this whole post.

yes Bovary is a one true female. She assumes her nature which makes her despised by men.

Which is?...

Salammbô and Un Coeur Simple have better prose. L'Education Sentimentale is the best novel overall.

Both are ugly af
I'd rather off myself than make a choice

Which doesn't mean one shouldn't start with Bovary. Also, Salammbo doesn't have better prose and is an inferior novel.

if you're reading a translation prose isn't a consideration at all. The author's prose is actually the only thing lost in translation

But as I wrote, I also think Salammbo is an inferior novel. No point in starting there, for sure.

Also I don't agree with your second sentence at all but w/e.

Reading Bovary at the moment. Really does evoke the mediocrity of the time in the first parts
kek

It's good

faggot detected

Emma kills herself at the end. There, i saved you 300 pages of the most tedious prose.

Dude I love Madame Bovary. Some might see it as kinda eh and I could see why, but I love the way the author makes you absolutely despise her. I also like the historical context that this was a daring book to write because it showed a woman in a negative life. He got in serious trouble! Is the story anything super amazing like Le Mis though? No not really, but I very much enjoyed it.

I meant light, not life. Oops!

Invisible prose? what do you mean?