And it remains a profound statement about how that very human pursuit of happiness is always just that вЂ“ a pursuit. An illicit love affair between two aristos also becomes a sweeping portrait of tsarist Russia and a daring (for its time) treatise on the charged carnality of the extramarital. One of the central cornerstones in the canon of world literature a great state-of-the-nation novel that also deals with the absolute messiness of the human heart and the way that the biggest mystery in life might just happen to be yourself. Photograph: Laurie Sparham/Allstar/Universal Pictures Chopin defied established proprieties by showing the sexual desires of a married woman outside the stifling conjugal bed.Д¬harged carnality вЂ¦ Jude Law as Karenin and Keira Knightley in the title role of Anna Karenina (2012). When a certain young man makes his romantic yearnings known вЂ“ and when another suitor makes an amorous move while EdnaвЂ™s husband is out of town вЂ“ well, in true 19th-century style it all ends tragically. But she has begun to question the way society has forced her into the role of adoring spouse and baby provider. ItвЂ™s the story of Edna, who has married well and is comfortably placed in the world of the New Orleans bourgeoisie. What Yates captures brilliantly in this tightly constructed novel вЂ“ which spans five decades вЂ“ is the way that drifting from one casual fling (often with a married man) to the next becomes an accumulated articulation of deep inner despair вЂ¦ and an even deeper malaise at the heart of the country.ДЄn absolute gem, first published in 1899 вЂ“ now regarded as a landmark in American literature, even if many an upholder of the puritanical status quo back then condemned it as immoral. Emily makes a disastrous marriage, drifts from one bad affair to another, quietly embraces alcoholism. The Easter Parade follows the sad destinies of two sisters who become unhinged after their parentsвЂ™ divorce. But 15 years later he produced another masterpiece of national despair.

Yes, YatesвЂ™s 1961 novel Revolutionary Road remains a postwar American classic. Flaubert not only invented the so-called вЂњdesperate housewifeвЂќ genre, but also spoke a truth that few then or now want to recognise: stepping out from the bonds of fidelity is often a response to boredom. Of course Flaubert shocked the guardians of moral propriety by having his not-soвЂ“bright heroine вЂ“ whose has married a third-tier provincial doctor вЂ“ starting an affair with a military man in town on secondment. It could be argued that the modern novel commenced with FlaubertвЂ™s masterpiece вЂ“ because it stands as the first work of fiction that grappled with the nightmare of marriage at its most prosaic. A brilliantly constructed novel about the way in which passion can often become a game of obsessive ownership. And then there is her entrenched Catholicism. His jealousy is fuelled by the despair of knowing that he will probably never have a proper life with her. He becomes obsessed with claiming Sarah as his own. The End of the Affair by Graham GreeneДЄ male novelist вЂ“ unmarried, living a solipsistic existence in south London during the blitz вЂ“ begins an affair with a senior civil servantвЂ™s wife. On which note, here are my 10 favourite novels on the agonies and ecstasies of the extramarital adventure:ДЎ. The novel asks: is carnal desire more intense and profound when outside the strictures of marriage? ItвЂ™s a question posed by many writers, as adultery and other variants on illicit romance have always been key themes in fiction. ItвЂ™s an affair that continues for more than three decades. In my 13th novel, Isabelle in the Afternoon, a young American named Sam discovers la veritГ© at the heart of that epigram as he begins an intense but very circumscribed liaison with a married French woman in her late 30s.

LetвЂ™s begin by borrowing a phrase by Alexandre Dumas fils: вЂњThe chains of marriage are so heavy that it takes two to bear them and sometimes three.вЂќ

Erotic novel adultery