The money (Zola)

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Title page from 1891

The money ( French : L'Argent ) is a novel by the French writer Émile Zola . It forms the eighteenth part of the Rougon-Macquart cycle . It was first published in sequels from November 1890 to March 1891 in the journal Gil Blas . This was followed by the first edition by Charpentier . The novel depicts the financial world of the Second Empire in Paris using the fictional character of Aristide Saccard, the son of Pierre and Félicité Rougon, who is already known to the reader from the novels Das Glück der Familie Rougon and Die Beute . Zola's intent was to portray the dire consequences of speculation, fraudulent financial transactions, the culpable negligence of company directors, and the ineptitude of contemporary business law.

action

The action takes place in the years 1864 to 1869. It begins five months after the death of Aristide Saccard's second wife Reneé. Aristide is bankrupt and excluded from the stock market. To re-establish himself, he develops a plan. His neighbor, the engineer Georges Hamelin, dreams of the restoration of Christianity in the Middle East . For this purpose, railways and roads are to be built, ports repaired and ships built. To promote these projects, Aristide founds a finance company. The real motive is his return to the Paris stock exchange. In doing so, he cannot count on the support of his brother Eugène. The minister, Eugène Rougon, known to the reader from The Happiness of the Rougon Family and His Excellency Eugène Rougon , seeks to promote the influence of a more liberal Roman Catholic Church in France. Aristide also sees the company as an opportunity to deal a blow to the Jewish bankers who dominate the stock market.

Palais Brongniart , headquarters of the Paris Stock Exchange

The novel follows the fate of over 20 people. Zola shows the intertwining of money, power and love in the Second Empire and the effects of financial speculation on rich and poor protagonists. Zola allows his literary criticism of capitalism to flow into the person of Sigismond Busch, which is clearly shaped by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon's views on money, cooperation (French: la coopération ) and exchange.

From the beginning, Aristides Banque Universelle has been on unsafe ground. The goodwill is manipulated, a straw man is used to cover up dubious business practices . Hamelin lives with his sister Caroline, who, contrary to her better judgment, invests in the Banque Universelle and later begins a relationship with Aristide. Caroline learns of the existence of Aristide's son Victor. She rescues him from poverty and places him in an auxiliary facility. But Victor is greedy, lazy and thieving. After an attack on an aid worker, he disappears and is never seen again.

While Hamelin travels to Istanbul , the value of Banque Universelle on the Paris Stock Exchange increases. The value of the shares increases from 500 francs to 3000 francs within three years . Aristide uses the profits to buy several newspapers in order to manipulate public opinion regarding the stability and legality of his bank. The Banque Universelle cannot finance itself on its own in the long term. Aristide's main counterparty on the stock exchange, the Jewish banker Gundermann, has learned from his opponent's financial tricks and attacks. He thinks the stock is overvalued and is selling his shares, forcing Aristide to invest in the millions to keep the market price of the Banque Universelle high. After all, the bank owns a quarter of its total value of 200 million francs. That leads to the bank's collapse . Since Gundermann sold before the bear market , he is making hefty profits. The consequences for large and small investors are catastrophic. They lead to financial ruin, suicide and exile. Aristide and Hamelin are each sentenced to five years in prison. Eugène intervenes in Aristides' favor because a brother in prison would be detrimental to the minister's reputation. Aristide goes to Belgium . The novel ends with Caroline's travel arrangements, which follows her brother to Rome .

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Chapter 12 [439]: Ah! comme je la vois, comme elle se dresse là, nettement, la cité de justice et de bonheur!… Tous y travaillent, d'un travail personnel, obligatoire et libre. La nation n'est qu'une société de coopération immense, les outils deviennent la propriété de tous, les produits sont centralisés dans de vastes entrepôts généraux. On a effectué tant de labeur utile, on a droit à tant de consommation sociale. C'est l'heure d'ouvrage qui est la commune mesure, un objet ne vaut que ce qu'il a coûté d'heures, il n'y a plus qu'un échange, entre tous les producteurs, à l'aide des bons de travail, et cela sous la direction de la communauté, sans qu'aucun autre prélèvement soit fait que l'impôt unique pour élever les enfants et nourrir les vieillards, renouveler l'outillage, défrayer les services publics gratuits… Plus d ' argent, et dès lors plus de speculation, plus de vol, plus de trafics abominables, plus de ces crimes que la cupidité exaspère, les filles épousées pour leur dot, les vieux parents étranglés pour leur héritage, les passants assassinés pour leur bourse! ... Plus de classes hostiles, de patrons et d'ouvriers, de prolétaires et de bourgeois et, dès lors, plus de lois restrictives ni de tribunaux, de force armée gardant l'inique accaparement des uns contre la faim enragée des autres!… Plus d 'oisifs d'aucune sorte, et dès lors plus de propriétaires nourris par le loyer, de rentiers entr etenus comme des filles par la chance, plus de luxe enfin ni de misère!… Ah! n'est-ce pas l'idéale équité, la souveraine sagesse, pas de privilégiés, pas de misérables, chacun faisant son bonheur par son effort, la moyenne du bonheur humain! [1]

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