Thoroughly Modern Lily
Called a 'remaking' rather than a 'recycling' of Madame Bovary; Mario Vargas Llhosa's character, Lily, in The Bad Girl is Emma Bovary on steroids. While Emma dallied with men, Lily consumes them. Both women defy convention, inflict a lot of suffering and pay a price for refusing to accept their lot. The fact that we still find the behavior of a character like Lily shocking suggests things have not changed for women as much as we'd like to think.
For a contemporary, graphic send- up of Madame Bovary--indulge in Posy Simmonds' Gemma Bovery. While the plot closely follows the original, this graphic novel relies on humor to retell Emma's story.