Waste and Parasitism

Abstract

Zola’s critique of the bourgeoisie in Les Rougon-Macquart is largely defined by the interrelated themes of waste and parasitism. On the one hand, his satirical portrayal of ‘la bousculade des ambitions et des appétits’ (‘the jostle of ambitions and appetites’)¹ is rooted in his horror at the waste of human energies; on the other hand, he sharply attacks the sterile egoism of unregenerate parasites like the Quenu family in Le Ventre de Paris. The final sentence of Le Ventre de Paris (‘Quels gredins que les honnêtes gens!) (‘What swine decent people really are!) (I, 895) sums up his approach to the bourgeoisie in the early novels of the series. The aggressive anti-Imperial polemic in Les Rougon-Macquart, which is expressed most directly in the novels that preceded Pot-Bouille (1882), is as much moralistic as ideological. The objects of this polemic are the corruption, frivolity and greed of Second Empire society. La Fortune des Rougon (1871) describes the brutal beginnings of the régime as reflected in the founding of the family’s fortune. La Curée (1872) is a powerful picture of the large-scale financial corruption which accompanied the haussmannisation of Paris. The action of Le Ventre de Paris (1873) centres on the ensnarement of a revolutionary deportee, Florent Quenu, who represents a menace of disruption to the prosperous existence of his sister-in-law, Lisa, who embodies in caricatural form the social mentality of the complacent petite bourgeoisie.