Phil Bailey

My favorite Liberal Arts teacher at Rhode Island School of Design was Phil Bailey. He was an amazing actor. The classroom was his his theater. Each day he kept us spellbound. We studied the French Novel one semester and the Russian novel another. I loved Madame Bovary. I called her Madame Ovary! I've re-read the book twice since then, always in Spring while lying down on my bed with a view of the blossoming tree.

Flaubert's first novel, Madame Bovary, was published on this day in 1857 about a woman who has multiple affairs to stave off the boredom of her empty existence. The novel caught the attention of the authorities, and Flaubert was charged with corrupting public morals. He was acquitted, and the publicity from the trial made the book a best-seller.
- Writer's Almanac