Abstract This paper discusses how the author Emile Zola attempted to use his novel "La Bete Humaine" to provide a window upon a perverse society through a narrative about an individual whose desires have become perverse because of social oppression. It examines how, when the director Jean Renoir chose to dramatize this particular film in 1938, Zola's original intent, perhaps invariably, was slanted in favor of the sensationalistic narrative rather than his realistic analysis of the class-bound French social system. It looks at how this may be partially ascribed to the particular ideological nature of the filmmaking process of the turbulent era of French history in which Renoir dwelled. It analyzes how the film differs most substantively from the original novel because of its focus upon the central character, rather than upon the particular reasons for the existence of the outside forces surrounding and pressuring the main character Jacques.
From the Paper "However, Renoir's reasons for slanting the plot appear to be more complex. The crime novel aspect of La Bete Humaine also ideally called forth Renoir's ability to use the visual techniques of film noir, creating striking dark and light visions that the train setting of the plot seemed uniquely suited to. Given Renoir's previous ideological stance in many of his earlier films, this might strike an historian of French cinema as rather curious. However, in this case, the director, in the words of film critic Richard Roud, seemed more interested in ?playing with trains,? than playing with politics. In other words, the artist over the ideologue in Renoir won out. The director's fascination with the cinematic medium's ability to portray and render light and dark was more forceful than his devotion to a social cause."
Tags: jean, renoir, social, oppression, france, class
Abstract This paper discusses how the author Emile Zola is most famous for the forceful nature of his realistic prose, found in his novels "Germinal", "La Bete Humaine" and "Therese Raquin". It examines how although Zola is noted for his work as a crusader for social justice during his lifetime, these novels are also marked by his reliance upon grotesque details, events and characterization. It looks at how a reader is invariably provoked to ask this long-deceased author why an author such as Zola, so intent upon using the artistic form for the purposes of social liberation be moved to use such tropes and narrative devices. It also evaluates why he was so committed in his narrative structure to not conform to, what on the surface might seem to be more "realistic" characters and events.
From the Paper "Perhaps the best way to analyze the use of the macabre in Zola is to grant that the events the author describes do not customarily transpire everyday, to everyday people and readers in their lives. These subjects gain a realistic force through naturalistic prose and because of the meaning invested in them by the author's narrative structure. Zola uses the macabre not in a sensationalistic fashion, although he acknowledges that a love of sensation is a part of human, daily life. Rather the macabre takes on both a metaphorical and realistic insight to provide a window into the base desires that afflict all individuals whom are part of the social structure and populace of a macabre and fraught society themselves. Zola holds up an apparently distorting glass in which the reader is forced to see the worst, yet a true side, of him or herself."
Abstract Emile Zola was a French critic and writer, better known for his extreme opposition of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and his fiery social commentaries against society in the 19th century. The paper shows how Zola was intensely interested in portraying life as he saw it without romanticizing about some of its aspects. It describes how initially his works did not receive much public acclaim but after the publication of "Therese Raquin" in 1867, he became a well-known literary figure in France. The paper shows that from 1871 to 1893, Zola focused on the publication of what is now known as the Rougon-Macquart series. Under this series, he came up with what are considered some truly amazing novels including "L'Assommoir" (1877), "Nana" (1880), "Germinal" (1885) and "La Bete Humaine" in 1890. The paper also discusses Zola's involvement in the Alfred Dreyfus affair.
From the Paper "This brings us to an important feature of his works i.e. naturalism. From the proposal above, it is clear that Zola was a naturalist and believed in presented his stories in the light of his definition of naturalism. Zola was the pioneer of a new creed of naturalism, which focused on reality and its true depiction. His kind of naturalism was based on true depiction of life, as it exists. Not much was added to or subtracted from what the author observed during his research on various topics. Everything was presented in its real form with intense focus on human emotions and thoughts. For example at one point ion Germinal, the author used the technique of naturalism to foreshadow the ending. Characters appear almost real and thus their thoughts and emotions can be related to. There is no artificiality or shallowness in their portrayal neither is there an element of romanticism anywhere."
