Madame Bovary
What metaphors are used in Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert?
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In Emma's utter reliance on the validity of literature, she loses herself in the illusions of metaphor, what Girard calls "external mediation." Despite Flaubert's complete dispersal of self into every element, human and natural, of his scene, he is still conscious of the fiction: "Mais je redoute le réveil, les désillusions des pages recopiées." Taken into the seduction scene during the act of creation, Flaubert the artist still realizes he must go through the work of revision. After allowing the restraints of self to be broken, Flaubert returns to assert his mastery over the written word. The illusion of immediacy and immersion is broken. Fiction is no longer authentic life; he is no longer seduced by the metaphor. This is the ultimate masculine act, the immersion in language, the realm of the Father.
Madame Bovary