Behind closed doors: An enquiry into the description of domestic interiors in Zola's Rougon-Macquart novels

Abstract

The point of departure of this study is the home in Zola's Rougon-Macquart novels. Scant attention has been paid by all but a few zolistes to the descriptions of private rooms in the novels, and this study examines in turn three major areas: bedroom, dining-room and salon. The link sought between these areas is that of self-indulgence, which Zola sees as contributing greatly to the downfall of the Second Empire. In addition, the rooms are examined both as settings, and as the theatres of such action as quarrels, dinner-parties and dances. The scope of the enquiry admits consideration of public rooms (dance halls, restaurants etc.) which house similar activities. Consideration is given to documentary aspects of description, but stress is laid in the imagery and on the themes revealed in Zola's handling of his material. In particular, Zola's attitudes are shown to be fundamentally ambiguous, as he lovingly describes what he morally deplores; negative, in some respects, as he seeks to minimise or even to eliminate some settings; and evolving, as the series of novels progresses. It is shown that a rigid categorisation of rooms by function cannot be maintained, and two further sections of the survey are devoted, respectively, to an exploration of Zola's tendency to blur the functions of rooms, either literally or in his use of imagery; and to some consideration of the interplay of secretiveness and flaunting, of privacy and intrusion, in relation to domestic interiors. A final chapter sums up the enquiry, with emphasis on points judged of particular interest. Certain novels, notably La Curee and Au Bonheur des Dames, are singled out as being central to the arguments put forward.