1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910811669503321

Autore

Baguley David

Titolo

Fécondité d'Émile Zola : roman à thèse, évangile, mythe / / David Baguley

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Toronto, [Ontario] ; ; Buffalo, [New York] : , : University of Toronto Press, , 1973

©1973

ISBN

1-4426-5646-8

1-4426-3315-8

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (295 p.)

Collana

University of Toronto Romance Series ; ; 21

Disciplina

843/.8

Soggetti

LITERARY CRITICISM / European / French

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Francese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Publie dans le cadre de la Bibliotheque numerique canadienne, la Collection des editeurs canadiens.

Appendices (pages [213]-232): 1. Plan general de Fecondite.--2. Dossiers preparatoires de Fecondite: description, chronologie, notes.--3. Les variantes de Fecondite.

D'abord presente comme these de l'auteur (Ph. D.), Nancy, 1969.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Preface -- Avant-Propos -- Introduction -- Zola et les courants idéologiques de la fin du siècle -- 2. Zola, le malthusianisme et la dépopulation en France -- 3. Le Thème de la fécondité -- 4. Les Premiers Jalons du roman -- 5. La Documentation -- 6. Personnages et plans -- 7. La Rédaction et la publication -- 8. Fécondité : roman à thèse -- 9. Fécondité : évangile et mythe -- Conclusion -- 1. Plan général de Fécondité -- 2. Dossiers préparatoires de Fécondité -- 3. Les Variantes de Fécondité -- Notes -- Bibliographie -- Index -- Table -- Backmatter

Sommario/riassunto

This historical and critical study of Zola’s Fécondité contributes much to an understanding of how the novel came to be written and of its achievements. Like Travail and Verité, the later books in the series Les Quatre Evangiles, Fécondité has not previously received significant critical attention. This study reveals and interprets the less obvious aspects of the work, its biblical and mythical themes, its sources and



genesis. It also adds to our knowledge of Zola’s later works through the examination of various ideological currents—particularly the impact of Malthusianism, its proponents and adversaries, and who among them Zola read in preparing this book. Fécondité deals with the particular problem of France’s declining birth-rate at the end of the nineteenth century and, more generally, with the problem of decadence and cultural renewal. By the time that he wrote Fécondité, Zola had abandoned his naturalist aesthetic of scientific objectivity, if not also his working methods as a novelist. This study shoes how his didactic concerns continually asserted themselves in the structure and the use of rhetorical techniques in Fécondité. Specialists in Zola, and others more generally interested in the French culture of the late nineteenth century, as well as the particular demographic problems that Zola treats in the work, and the relationship of literature to primitive mythology, should find this study of particular interest.