Description
Book SynopsisThis book analyses one of the many levels of complexity not readily apparent to the reader of Zola’s fiction: the question of the author’s family secrets. The novels addressed here present a variety of sub-textual issues highlighting Zola’s sexual insecurity and anxiety. Their analysis reveals a mystery related to female sexuality that pervades the narratives of
Thérèse Raquin and
La Fortune des Rougon, and that is silently transmitted in
Madeleine Férat,
La Faute de l’Abbé Mouret,
La Bête humaine,
La Curée,
Nana,
Le Docteur Pascal and
Vérité.
The novels are explored from the standpoint of psychoanalytical criticism, a tool particularly appropriate for examining Zola’s language and illuminating the recurrent theme of «the Return of the repressed». Four psychoanalytical theories are adopted: Nicolas Abraham’s and Maria Toroks’ theories of psychic development (presenting the concept of the phantom) and Sigmund Freud’s and Jacques Lacan’s theories of infantile sexuality.
Table of ContentsContents: The Function of the Unconscious in the Selected Novels of Emile Zola – The Death-Drive and the Return of the Repressed in
La Fortune des Rougon, Thérèse Raquin and
Madeleine Férat – The Function of Dreams in
La Faute de l’Abbé Mouret and
La Bête humaine – Prostitution and Nineteenth-Century «Female Discourse» in
La Curée and
Nana – The Connection between Gestation and Heredity in
Le Docteur Pascal, or the Secret Exposed – The Nature of Truth in
Vérité – Conclusion of Arguments Presented on Zola’s Language.
