Ten of the best lotharios in literature

For the Guardian, John Mullan named ten of the best lotharios in literature.

One lothario on the list:

Rodolphe

Foolish Emma Bovary falls for this practised seducer in Flaubert's novel. For the provincial doctor's frustrated wife, wealthy, stylish Rodolphe Boulanger is Prince Charming. For him, pretty Emma is just the latest in a long line of conquests. He gets bored and dumps her.

Read about the other characters on Mullan's list.

Madame Bovary is on Mullan's list of ten of the best bad lawyers in literature, Valerie Martin's list of six novels about doomed marriages, and Louis Begley's list of favorite novels about cheating lovers. It tops Peter Carey's list of the top ten works of literature and was second on a top ten works of literature list selected by leading writers from Britain, America and Australia in 2007. It one of John Bowe's six favorite books on love.

--Marshal Zeringue