Begæret efter stoflighed. Materialitet, begrænsninger og begær i “Madame Bovary”

Signe Leth Gammelgaard: “Desiring Matter: Materiality, Constraints and Desire in Madame Bovary”This article analyses similarities between Flaubert’s stylistics in Madame Bovary and the theories of new materialism, in particular the work of Karen Barad. Drawing upon earlier readings of the novel by Schor, Danius, Starobinski and Rancière this reading centers on the motif of boundaries and their dissolvement and it argues that the novel highlights a feeling of disappointment or frustration with a world that does not always move according to human will. The article goes on to examine how Emma’s money plot conjoins with the theory of active materiality, and to speculate on the relation between capitalist ideology and new materialist theory. Finally, two critiques of new materialism are discussed, stressing the importance of the notion of boundaries.