This paper analyzes the character traits of all the characters in the Emile Zola's novel, ?Nana?, especially those of a young Parisian prostitute named Nana.
1,460 words (approx. 5.8 pages), 2 sources, APA, $ 48.95
Abstract This paper explains that Emile Zola, a French novelist and critic, was the founder of the Naturalist movement in the world of literature; ?Nana?, written in 1880, one of Emile Zola's most profound literary works, exposes the true state of prostitution and sexual exploitation in France. The author points out that Zola rightfully examines the nature of his characters by examining a sexually and politically weakened society, a society that in no way tried to help Nana change herself. The paper relates that, throughout the story, the reader becomes well aware of the circumventing characters of Zola's novel and how they exploit one another to gain what they wanted, even though it was evanescent.
From the Paper "The book opens by introducing to the audience, Fauchery, a drama critic who is eagerly waiting for his hottest play named "The Blonde Venus" to open in Paris. The play is a conglomeration of bad music and bad actresses in which a new star named Nana is born. Nana appears on the stage in a manner that upholds her audience frenzy. She appears dressed up in diaphanous wraps and escapades the paroxysm caused by her almost nude performance. The author of the novel portrays Nana as a skillful harlot. Through her off scene performance she wins her first lover named Steiner who is a wealthy banker. From here, begins Nana's true escapade of exploiting herself through sex in order to achieve money and a high status among her fellow citizens."
Abstract This paper introduces and analyzes the book "Nana" by Emile Zola. Specifically, the paper discusses mid-19th century society and its values as they are depicted in the first five chapters of the book. The paper notes that "Nana" is a critique on Parisian society during the Second Empire, and it shows a society that is self-adsorbed, shallow, and devoid of just about any intellectual thought. The paper comments that it is a sad society, concerned more with how people look and who they know than anything else, and it is quite clear Zola does not approve of this decadent and disappointing society.
From the Paper "According to Zola, the values of society during this time leave much to be desired. The theater owner puts Nana on the stage for her "other good points" rather than her talents. Zola writes, "'Must a woman know how to act and sing? Oh, my chicken, you're too stoopid. Nana has other good points, by heaven!-- something which is as good as all the other things put together. I've smelled it out; it's deuced pronounced with her, or I've got the scent of an idiot'." The audience recognizes she is terrible, but when one member shouts, "Bravo!" the entire city embraces her, even though she has no talent."
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."
Abstract This paper briefly explains how Zola used his literature to describe the life in France at the time. All these novels were natural commentaries on the society and culture of 19th century France when industrialization was at its peak and social conditions at their worst. The writer explains that they each contain a unique element of the contemporary French society.
From the Paper "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. Zola was intensely interested in portraying life as he saw it without romanticizing about some of its aspects. Initially his works did not receive much public acclaim but after the publication of TH?R"SE RAQUIN in 1867, he became a well-known literary figure in France. 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 some truly amazing novel including L'assommoir (1877), Nana (1880), Germinal (1885) And La B"te Humaine In 1890."
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 This paper looks at the rise of the modern department store as depicted in Emile Zola's novel, "The Ladies Paradise." Zola uses the story to comment on the stereotyping of women. He demonstrates that stereotyping just leads to more of the same. The author comments on women's position in society in 19th century France, in order to illustrate how money cannot buy love and to show how shopping was one of the few ways that women could express their own individuality.
From the Paper "We should remember that this book ? with its concluding message that while money can?t buy love true love itself does remain a possibility. Zola's analysis of how women (and we must assume to some extent men) are drawn into a consumer culture that will in many ways steal their souls) by the very same marketing and merchandizing techniques that remain popular today, including product placement, loss leaders, incentives for impulse buying. Zola also demonstrates to us how these selling techniques are more and more tightly bound to stereotypical definitions of femininity that the store owner has collected in the previous volume of the series ? stereotypes that produce stereotypical behavior that produce stronger stereotypes that produce more stereotypical behavior, etc."
This paper discusses Emile Zola's novel "Ladies Paradise", named after Paris's first department store, where Mouret exerts his powers of seduction over the female customers, who are depicted as his willing prey.
1,565 words (approx. 6.3 pages), 0 sources, 2005, $ 51.95
Abstract This paper explains that, with the character of Denise Baudau, a lowly worker, Emile Zola presents in "Ladies Paradise" a somewhat skewed vision of the struggle between the sexes with this protagonist ultimately obtaining her goal to marry the less than admirable but higher ranked Monsieur Mouret. The author points out that advertising in the days of this novel worked the same way as today: To create a need by implying that women have some defective quality and promising that their product will make them more beautiful. The paper relates that Zola observes that women come to equate the products with their sexuality with its sensual allure festering and growing until they become an addiction for the women that they must have the products at all costs.
From the Paper "Consequently, a raging competition ensues and the ladies compete with each other for customers and the attention of Mouret. The shop girls are forced to dress in a certain way in order to be successful, which is by pleasing Mouret and garnering his attentions. If they can garner Mouret's attentions, a shop girl will have the great honor of exchanging sexual favors for the right to do as she pleases at the department store, as Clara Prunaire does. As long as the shop girl can keep Mouret pleased, she is protected from being sacked."
Abstract An analysis of Zola's novel "Au Bonheur des Dames" by studying the characters. The backdrop of the novel is the theme of how capitalism is stronger than the bourgeois life. The characters are played out along this theme by living their simple life and we are shown how the economic forces steer them.
From the Paper "Au Bonheur des Dames (1883), or The Ladies' Paradise, is one of the later novels in Zola's Rougon-Macquart cycle. It is a satirical, cynical novel in its narrative tone, yet is also quite optimistic. Its main theme is how modern capitalism, modern forms of consumer behavior, and modern morality triumph over the old ways of bourgeois life. These historical and social struggles both provide a background for and illuminate the romantic escapades of the owner and capitalist hero of the book, Octave Mouret and the heroine, the naive Denise Baudu. Denise is a worker in his store 'The Ladies' Paradise.' Denise provides the moral force of change in the novel; Octave Mouret exemplifies the force of social change in commerce. "
Tags: The Ladies’, Paradise social superior feminine temperament capitalist
Abstract The essential question addressed by this paper concerns the suffering, both physical and psychic, of Zola's primary characters and how they were transferred to the screen by a trio of important French directors.
From the Paper "The translation of any work of literature into another medium, even one apparently so closely aligned with the written word as film, is always a chancy proposition. While literature and film focus themselves on the same targets within the minds of their audiences; that of completing an organic connection between the conception and the reception of an idea, the very natures of the two disciplines demand different things of the person who is reading or watching the material. As exciting and enveloping as the best film experience may be, it is still, in its essence a passive experience; every action is already determined, ?painted,? and set in celluloid by the filmmaker."
Abstract This paper examines how the novels of Balzac and Zola portray the experience of Parisian life, by showing how the central characters' relationship to the city suggest broader social meanings.
From the Paper "To compare the Paris portrayed in Balzac's Old Goriot with the one portrayed in Zola's L'Assommoir is to engage in a multi generational project. Zola's text appeared roughly a generation after Balzac's death and nearly two generations after the earlier..."
This study compares the direct and indirect characterizations of powerful actresses characterizations of Miriam in Henry James' "The Tragic Muse" and Nana in Emile Zola's "Nana".
1,350 words (approx. 5.4 pages), 2 sources, 1994, $ 47.95
From the Paper 'This study will examine and compare the characterizations of Miriam in Henry James' "The Tragic Muse" and Nana in Emile Zola's "Nana". The study will first consider the ways James represents Miriam directly and indirectly, and will then compare and contrast James' portrayal of Miriam with Zola's portrayal of Nana directly and indirectly.
James from the first mention of Miriam shows her to be a remarkable, even mystical, woman. The author presents her in the words, thoughts and feelings of others as "the Tragic Muse," "that girl in Paris," "charming," and "the great modern personage". Nick Dormer has a vague memory of her, but he met her some time ago before she became "interesting," an actress, a model, and a character of increasing grace and power in her own and others' lives. Now, Nash tells Nick, "She's really ... "
Abstract This paper investigates the treatment of prostitution in nineteenth-century literature, in particular Elizabeth Gaskell's "Mary Barton", Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist" and Emile Zola's "Nana". By closely examining literature from England and France, authored by male and female writers, it attempts to display how cultural differences and gender implications may have an influence on the chosen novelists' treatment of the subject. Areas of interest include: the historical context of nineteenth-century prostitution; the authors' portrayal of prostitution; the response of other characters toward the prostitute and the importance of death as the final outcome.
From the Paper "The subject of prostitution has had a long-standing fascination for novelists, artists, and historians alike. The idea of a woman using her body as a paid profession has forever caused a great deal of controversy, especially during the nineteenth century, when women were not supposed to display or act upon their sexual desires. It has often been said that during the nineteenth century, prostitution was becoming an increasing problem, although many facts and figures differ from one another considerably, so it would be unhelpful to quote them here. It is useful enough to consider that 'Victorians in the 1840s and 1850s thought that both prostitution and venereal disease were increasing'. "
Abstract This paper examines "Therese Raquin", a novel by Emile Zola, which was first published in serial form in 1867 under the title of "Un Mariage d'Amour". It looks at how in the novel Zola used the "analytic method" to tell the story in which Therese finds herself. It demonstrates how while the literary ideal of the time was to use the "scientific method" to observe characters' behavior, Zola moves away from this with a moral, unscientific tone. It also discusses how Marcel Carne, a French filmmaker, adapted Zola's novel in his 1953 version of the story.
From the Paper "Edward Baron Turk (1989), upon meeting the elderly Carne during the 1980's, professes that the filmmaker saw himself as young. He was moved by the feeling of unfinished work. Thus, despite criticism to the effect that the quality of his films declined during the years both before and after "Therese Raquin", his ambition to make films never did. There is evidence of this in the film itself. The filmmaker recognizes that times have changed and thus the element of suspense is combined with the dark poetry of his previous works. The fact that he never believed his career to be over, moved him to continue exercising his profession in his old age. Even though these films never again attained either the quality or popularity of "Th?r?se Raquin", the fact remains that the filmmaker never lost his enthusiasm for his art or the values he depicted through it. The fact that he was working on a film when he died, demostrates this."
Abstract This paper discusses how "The Ladies' Paradise" is a classic novel about the third industrial revolution involving retail. It looks at how in this French novel, Emile Zola redefines many things about shopping and retail for the reader. The writer contends that Zola scrutinizes three crucial forces in seduction, religion, and social mobility and that they are the central forces that shaped modern Western urban life and art at the time that Zola wrote the novel. The paper further looks at how Zola examines each one of these forces, putting them in close relation to the idea of retail and shopping.
From the Paper "Religion is yet another critical force in The Ladies' Paradise. Zola transforms shopping into the newest religious conviction. In his highly striking metaphors, Zola uses language to compare shopping, or more directly the store, to a temple or a steeple. "Whilst the carpets and embroidered silks which decked the balustrades hung at her feet like processional banners attached to the rood-screen of a church. In the distance she could pick out the corners of the side-galleries, just as, from the eaves of a steeple, one can pick out the corners of neighboring streets from the black spots of passers-by as they move about" (Zola, The Ladies' Paradise, p. 253-254). In this quote, Zola is making a comparison between the aesthetics and decoration of the department store to that of a sanctuary in a church. He is also comparing what Madame Desforges is able to see in the store to what someone could see if standing atop the steeple of a church. "
Abstract "Germinal" is a realistically depicted tale of coal miners in 19th Century France, written by Emile Zola. The paper compares this novel with the film which was based on the story, directed by French director Claude Berri. The paper shows that ,despite the high standard of the film, it fails to leave the same impression of magnitude as the novel, due to the brilliance of Zola's work.
From the Paper "He has definitely presented the facts in their true essence, however the moviegoers do not get to see the background lending support to those facts. For example, instead of introducing us to the Hennebeaus who are self-made class of the French wealthy, Berri simply lets us see various contrasts through effective and powerful depiction of coal-miners and cruel ruling class limited to the Gregoires. The contrasts highlight the plight of coal-miners in 19th century effectively but can lead to confusion. This is because there are numerous characters and plots and subplots, which though can be explained, clearly through the novel, cannot be captured just as effectively in a film spanning 2 hours and 40 minutes."
