The Perpetual Orgy Explained

The Perpetual Orgy: Flaubert and Madame Bovary (1975) is a book-length essay by the Nobel Prize–winning Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa which examines Flaubert's 1857 book Madame Bovary as the first modern novel. The first part of Flaubert's novel has an autobiographical tone ; Vargas Llosa then goes on to examine the structure and meaning of Madame Bovary as well as its role in the development of the modern novel. First published in Spanish in 1975, the book was translated into English in 1986 by Helen Lane.^[1]

According to Julian Barnes:^[2]

John Gross, also reviewing the Helen Lane translation for The New York Times, praised the book's treatment of Flaubert's technical mastery:^[1]

Notes and References

1. News: John Gross. Books of the Times. Originally published in Spanish in 1975, this has now been translated into English under a title taken from one of Flaubert's letters, in which he wrote that the only way to make existence bearable was to lose oneself in literature as in a perpetual orgy.. The New York Times. 1986-12-09. 2011-01-24 .
2. News: Julian Barnes. Once in Love with Emma. It is important to take Vargas Llosa's opening declaration of love seriously, not as a mere critical conceit, a smart way into the book for him.. The New York Times. 1986-12-21. 2011-01-24 .