The earth (Zola)

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Advertising poster for Die Erde from 1887

The earth ( French: La Terre ) is a novel by the French writer Émile Zola from 1887. It forms the fifteenth part of the twenty-volume Rougon-Macquart cycle . The first edition was published by Charpentier in 1888. The action takes place in the fictional village of Rognes in the Beauce , an area in central France southwest of Paris . The protagonist Jean Macquart is already known to the reader from The Happiness of the Rougon Family , in which his childhood is described. His fate is followed up in the later novel The Collapse . The life of a farm worker family in the last year of the German Empire, immediately before the outbreak of the Franco-German War, is depicted .

action

The migrant worker Jean Macquart comes to the small village of Rognes, where he begins to work as a day laborer. Previously he served as a corporal in the French army and participated in the Battle of Solferino . Jean falls in love with Françoise Mouche, who lives in Rognes with her sister Lise. Lise is married to Buteau, who desires both sisters. Buteau's father, the old farmer Fouan, has a contract that his three children, Fanny Delhomme, who is married to a hard-working and recognized farmer, Hyacinthe, a rascal and poacher called Jesus Christ, and Buteau, you Inheritance should take place before the death of the father. In return, they have to pay Fouan a pension. The division of the inheritance is based on the Napoleonic Code civil from 1804 in equal parts. Shortly after taking over his inheritance, Buteau stops paying his pension and starts making advances to Fanny, who, however, rejects them. Fouan's wife dies. Fouan gives up his previous home and moves in with Fanny and her husband. Although Fanny correctly fulfills her contractual obligations to her father, his constant presence is a burden for her. Fouan decides to live with his son Hyacinthe. Hyacinthe lives with his daughter "La Trouille", who has to do all the housework for him. Fouan's self-esteem dwindles under the influence of the son. He participates in poaching. Fouan decides to live with Buteau and Lise from now on. Françoise and Jean have now married. Françoise finds herself unable to continue living with Buteau on a farm that is constantly making advances to his wife. Lise is jealous of her sister and wants her, who is expecting a child, and her husband to find a home of their own. She is ready to move out, but first demands the payment of her inheritance to her parents' house. When Françoise is alone in the field at harvest time, she is attacked by Lisa and Buteau. Lisa holds the sister while Buteau rapes her. Then she injures the sister with a sickle and kills her unborn child with a kick in her stomach. When Françoise is found, she claims to have had an accident and dies shortly afterwards. The greedy couple try to smother Fouan with smoke in his room at night, but when he survives, they set him on fire and arrange the scenery so that it looks like an accident. The Buteaus refuse to pay Jean Françoise's inheritance. Horrified at the suspicion that he killed his wife and her father, Jean leaves the village. His path leads him past the fresh grave mounds and the harvest-ready cornfields.

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