The fusion of Hellenic myth and social novel in Zola's "Rougon-Macquart" [microform]
- Bib ID:
- 3287174
- Format:
- Book and Microform
- Author:
- King, Rebecca Kaye
- Description:
- 174 p.
- Summary:
-
Literary historians have frequently pointed out that in the Rougon-Macquart novels Zola transcends his projected goal of presenting a systematic and scientifically researched view of a decadent society. His portrayal of this society is greatly enriched by his tendency to stray from the narrow confines of Naturalist reporting into the more creative channels of mythopoeic expression. Although much interest has been shown in the imagistic and myth-making aspects of Zola's style, the extent of his indebtedness to the mythological legacy of Hellenism has only recently begun to attract attention. Since his references to specific Greek myths have proved to be more numerous and less gratuitous than heretofore realized, the question arises as to the role of such material in his depiction of nineteenth-century French society.
Upon examination it becomes apparent that these mythological references occur principally in those novels which deal with the exploitation of the modern worker or with the profiteering of the upper classes in Second Empire society. This study therefore centers on La Fortune des Rougon, La Curee, Nana, L'Assommoir, and Germinal, and examines the consistency and effectiveness with which Zola describes the modern laborer in terms of mythological heroes while he depicts the Bonapartist regime and its supporters as a flagrant parody of noble Antiquity. His interest in themes from classical mythology and in the possibility of adapting them to a contemporary setting leads him to speculate whether there exists a modern equivalent of the Greek god or hero and to hypothesize that such an equivalent would be found only in the laboring class.
Mythological material thus becomes an effective vehicle for social commentary when he presents working class characters as gods or heroes and upper class characters as parodies of gods and heroes. Through this fusion of Greek myths and the social novel, Zola reveals his perception of the weaknesses of Imperial society and suggests the source of its salvation. The first chapter shows that in La Fortune des Rougon Zola establishes the respective roles of working class Republicans as mythic heroes and middle class Bonapartists as mock-heroes. The second chapter deals with Zola's view of the Second Empire as a setting for a modern Phaedra and his use of other myths such as Echo and Narcissus to expose the nature of this society.
The third chapter discusses the portrait of the Second Empire in Nana as a degraded Olympus taken over by courtesans. The last chapter considers the extent to which Zola's worker-heroes in L'Assommoir and Germinal live up to their roles as potential mythic gods and heroes. Finally, it becomes evident that although the modern laborer is a contemporary parallel to the monster-slayers of mythology, the age of deliverance at the hands of an individual hero is past. With this interweaving of mythological allusions and textual narrative, Zola dismisses the current regime as corrupt, tentatively considers the possible redemption of society through the worker-hero, and ultimately concludes that its salvation will be through collective action.
- Notes:
-
- (UnM)AAI8018244
- Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-02, Section: A, page: 0692.
- Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Kentucky, 1979.
- Reproduction:
- Microfiche. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms International.
- Subject:
- Literature, Romance
- Other authors/contributors:
- University of Kentucky
- Copyright:
-
In Copyright
Contact us for information about copying.
Copyright status was determined using the following information:
- Material type:
- Literary Dramatic Musical
- Published status:
- Unpublished
- Creation date:
- 1979
Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply. For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.
Request this item
Request this item to view in the Library’s reading room.