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- Herausgeber: BrightSummaries.com
- Kategorie: Bildung
- Serie: BrightSummaries.com
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017
Unlock the more straightforward side of The Belly of Paris with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!
This engaging summary presents an analysis of
The Belly of Paris by Émile Zola, a compelling account of the lives of the people selling their wares at the then-newly-constructed market of Les Halles in central Paris. Set at a time of significant political and social change, the novel depicts conspiracies, gossip and backstabbing in this working-class region of the capital and stands out in particular for Zola’s masterful use of description.
The Belly of Paris forms part of
Les Rougon-Macquart, an ambitious cycle of 20 novels which tells the story of one extended family under the Second French Empire. Émile Zola was the leading figure of the literary school of naturalism, as well as an influential social thinker, and is now regarded as one of France’s greatest novelists.
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This in-depth and informative reading guide brings you:
• A complete plot summary
• Character studies
• Key themes and symbols
• Questions for further reflection
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Émile Zola
French writer and journalist
Born in Paris in 1840.Died in Paris in 1902.Notable works:Nana (1880), novelThe Ladies’ Paradise (1883), novelGerminal (1885), novelÉmile Zola was born in 1840 and died in 1902. He is considered to be one of the greatest French novelists of the 19th century. He was also the leading figure of naturalism, a movement which sought to apply the experimental scientific methods of the time to literature: after observing reality, Zola would put forward a hypothesis and test it through experimentation in his books. This aesthetic can be seen in particular in Les Rougon-Macquart, a cycle of 20 novels which constitutes his most important work and met with major success, in spite of many criticisms.
Zola was also famous for his social and political stances, which often provoked strong reactions. The best-known of these concerns the Dreyfus affair; his pamphlet J’accuse (“I accuse”) was a major contributing factor to the pardoning of the Jewish officer Alfred Dreyfus (1859-1935).
The Belly of Paris
The story of Les Halles in Paris
Genre: novelReference edtion: Zola, É. (2009) The Belly of Paris. Trans. Nelson, B. Oxford: Oxford University Press.1st edition: 1873Themes: food, revolution, French society, politics, conspiracyThe Belly of Paris was first published in 1873 and is the third novel in Zola’s Les Rougon-Macquart cycle. Each of Zola’s novels explores one aspect of 19th-century society; in this case, he describes the architecture and workings of Les Halles, the new market in central Paris, in painstaking detail.
The Belly of Paris is one of Zola’s early works, and the theory of the experimental novel is particularly visible in the skilful descriptions which serve as a vibrant tribute to the impressionist painters.
Summary
Chapter 1
Madame François, a market gardener from Nanterre, is travelling to Les Halles in Paris when she sees Florent in a ditch, unconscious and half dead from hunger. She takes him to the capital in her cart, which is filled with fresh vegetables.
Florent had previously been sent to the penal colony of Cayenne after being wrongfully convicted of killing a woman during the political upheaval of December 1851. However, he managed to escape, and has spent the past two years trying to secretly return to Paris.
Good to know: Napoleon III’s coup d’état
