The sin of the Abbé Mouret

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Title page edition from 1883

The Sin of the Abbé Mouret ( French La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret ) is a novel published in 1875 by Émile Zola . It forms the 5th part of the Rougon-Macquart cycle . The action takes place in the fictional small provincial town of Artauds. The focus is on Serge Mouret, who is already known to the reader from The Conquest of Plassans . It is unusual for Zola's novels that only a few characters and locations are described here and that real observations and fantastic appearances flow into one another.

The novel was made into a film by Georges Franju in 1970 .

action

The neurotic young priest Serge Mouret has taken up a pastor's position in the small town of Artauds. The residents of Artaud are religiously disinterested and genetically damaged by incest. Serge loses his memory after a serious nervous illness. At the Le Paradou estate , he is looked after by Albine, the daughter of the owner of the estate. Doctor Pascal takes care of his medical care . The nerve disease, apparently inherited in the Mouret family, is researched by Doctor Pascal and discussed in several books in the cycle. In his last novel, Doctor Pascal takes the lead role and finally presents the result of his research. Serge is slowly regaining his strength. Together with Albine he roams the extensive garden of Le Paradou , in which many beautiful and rare plants grow. At first he has a childlike affection for Albine, which gradually turns into sexual love. He promises Albine loyalty. Their months of living together shows parallels to the biblical fall into sin . When Serge hears the bell of his church from afar, his memory returns. He leaves the girl and resumes his office as pastor. Albine, who is expecting a child from him, seeks a discussion with Serge in which he hides behind his religious obligations and rejects all responsibility. When the attempt to regain him fails, Albine takes her own life by filling a room with strongly scented plants and falling asleep in it. Serge celebrates Albine's funeral without showing any regret.

literature

  • Émile Zola: The Sin of the Abbé Mouret (=  The Rougon-Macquart . Band 5 ). tredition, Hamburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-8424-2039-7 ( limited preview in the Google book search - French: La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret . Translated by Alastair).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Sabine Küster: Medicine in a novel . Studies on "Les Rougon Macquart" by Emile Zola. 1st edition. Cuvillier Verlag, Göttingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-86727-793-8 , p. 153 ( limited preview in Google Book search).