In the Rougon-Macquart novels, provincial life tends to be overshadowed by Zola's preoccupation with the capital. Only in his picture of rural working-class life in La Terre and in the corresponding picture of industrial working-class life in Germinal, does Zola convincingly escape from Paris into the provinces. The life of provincial towns is an even more noticeable omission from his achievement, for only in Le Reve and in the twice repeated picture of Plassans (modeled upon his childhood home, Aix-en-Provence) does he achieve such a portrait (La Fortune des Rougon, La Conquete de Plassans). Le Docteur Pascal has the same setting but cannot properly be termed a novel of provincial life. La Debacle, the military novel is set for the most part in country districts of eastern France; its denouement takes place in the capital during the civil war leading to the suppression of the Paris Commune. Like Balzac, Zola's imagination was roused by Paris and all that the capital represented to him.
- ISBN10 1105711056
- ISBN13 9781105711053
- Publish Date 30 April 2012
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Lulu.com
- Format eBook (OEB)
- Language English