frlit1-7, Exercise 2: The Madame Bovary trial

Model answer:

Madame Bovary, published in instalments in 1856 and 1857, was prosecuted for offending public morals. Flaubert and his publisher were tried in 1857 and acquitted, and the trial made the book famous. The line "Madame Bovary, c'est moi" is commonly attributed to Flaubert, but there is no firm evidence that he said it in those words, so scholars treat it as a legend, although it expresses something about how the novelist merges with the character.

Check the dates against a reference work.