Adultery in the Novel

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Adultery serves as a pivotal theme in literature, particularly in bourgeois novels of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Tony Tanner explores this topic by examining its significance in works such as Rousseau's La Nouvelle Héloïse, Goethe's Die Wahlverwandtschaften, and Flaubert's Madame Bovary. His analysis delves into the roles of women, family dynamics, societal norms, and the evolution of sexuality, highlighting how transgressions of marriage contracts reflect broader cultural concerns.