The joy of life (Zola)

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Edition of the Universum library, Berlin 1923

The joy of living and the joy of life ( La joie de vivre ) by Emile Zola published in 1884 as the twelfth novel of the twenty-volume novel cycle The Rougon-Macquart - natural and social history of a family under the Second Empire . The novel tells the story of a young girl's development in France in the 1860s and 1870s. He describes his puberty, the love for his cousin and his integration into the living conditions of a middle-class family. At the same time he scrutinizes the depraved social structures of the time, dominated by egoism and greed for personal gain. Zola describes how on this fertile soil the young girl grows in a painful development into a humble and compassionate person, how she develops strength and strength and thus develops into a superior character and a personified alternative to the spirit of the time.

action

Bonneville, a small fishing village near Caen in the 1860s. 10-year-old Pauline Quenu, whose parents Lisa Macquart and Quenu ( The Belly of Paris ) have died, is taken in by her uncle and aunt, Mr and Mrs Chanteau. You have taken over the guardianship of Pauline and the trusteeship of her stately legacy. The chanteaus seem to have the best of intentions.

Pauline quickly settles into the situation. She takes on the care of her gouty uncle and befriends Lazare. The unsteady son of the house soon goes to Paris to study medicine. However, he fails and quickly pursues other plans. Lazare wants to use seaweed commercially. Pauline finances the necessary investment. It will be a losing business in which she will eventually lose a large part of her fortune. Mrs. Chanteau paves the way for a marriage between them; they get engaged. Now one also denies smaller expenses from Pauline's fortune.

As every summer, Louise Thibaudier comes to visit. Louise is said to have received an enormous dowry. Soon Lazare and Louise were flirting. Enlightened by Veronika, the housemaid, Pauline surprises the two of them and demands that Louise be expelled from the house immediately. In order not to lose Pauline as a source of money, Mrs. Chanteau agrees. When Mrs. Chanteau is struck down by a heart disease, Pauline takes care of her devotedly. Nevertheless, the aunt followed her niece with suspicion. She eventually dies mad. So now Pauline takes on the role of housewife; it develops into the good soul of the house.

Pauline realizes that Lazare's desire for Louise continues. She puts her own feelings aside and renounces Lazare, who can now marry Louise. Lazare got a lucrative job in Paris through his father-in-law. Pauline's life in the Chanteau house is monotonous. The running costs of the household are covered by her. When visiting Lazare, there is a rapprochement. Lazare kisses her. But when he unties Pauline's dress, resistance stirs in her and she has to save herself from him.

Louise also appears in Bonneville. She is going through a difficult pregnancy. With pain, blood and dirt, she gives birth to a boy. The doctor thinks he is dead, but Pauline brings the child into life. Lazare and Louise stay in Bonneville. They lead an unfulfilled existence with bickering that Pauline has to settle every day. Pauline herself has now used up almost her entire fortune. But unlike the others, she radiates strength and health. “She had given everything and her ringing laugh proclaims happiness.” - But in the garden you can find Veronika, the maid. She hanged herself from a pear tree.

subjects

As in the previous novels in the story of the Rougon-Macquart , Zola depicts the characters as subjects of their time and in them reflects the France of Napoleon the Third . Egoism, greed, indulgence and dullness are described by him as the offspring of the epoch. These values ​​drive the actors. They are the breeding ground for their actions and the engine that determines their goals. Morality seems advanced. It is the fig leaf behind which selfishness and greed for profit hide.

Using the example of Ms. Chanteau, the novel also shows how a person increasingly sheds his moral values, how he reveals himself - as a trustee, falls prey to infidelity and exploits a dependent and dependent person. In the impressive portrayal of Ms. Chanteau's death, Zola also succeeds in depicting how people deal with the dying in this selfish world.

But the focus of the novel is Pauline. Your adolescent development becomes an issue, in all biological contexts - a certainly new dimension for the time. But the work is not just the story of a biological development. The process of character maturation is also described. In this way, the novel becomes an educational novel by a young girl who does not go out into the world, but remains tied to the house.

Against all odds, Pauline developed mercy and charity in this material world. This creates a fundamental conflict. Because at the same time the need to be needed and loved develops in Pauline. In the world as Zola sees her, however, no one can give her love. Therefore Pauline becomes a victim of the others. She is being exploited - as a worker, in her emotions and financially. But Zola does not describe the failure of the good in an evil world or the consumption of the healthy in favor of the degenerate. He shapes Pauline as a character who ultimately finds happiness in renunciation and thus towers over the ailing egoists of the time not as a weak, but as a strong and superior person.

filming

In 2011, director Jean-Pierre Améris filmed the novel with Anaïs Demoustier as Pauline. The television film was released in Germany under the title Too good for this world .

literature

  • Émile Zola : The joy of life . Translation: Hans Kauders. Universum Library, Berlin 1923.
  • Marc Bernard: Zola. Translation: Hansgeorg Maier. rororo-Bildmonographien, Reinbek 1959, ISBN 3-499-50024-8 .

Web links

Wikisource: La Joie de vivre  - Sources and full texts (French)