This was one of the few Rougon-Macquart novels I hadn't read. I started reading them as a teenager, with Nana and Germinal, and was always impressed by Zola's powerful writing. These novels are a true fresco of the French society under the Second Empire, and of human nature in general, each one dealing with a particular theme - provincial politics in
La Fortune des Rougons and
La Conquête de Plassans, urban speculation in
La Curée, proletarian work in
Germinal, department stores in
Au Bonheur des Dames, church hypocrisy in
La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret, alcoholism in
L'Assomoir, etc etc... This time, the theme is art and creativity, and once more the tone is deeply pessimistic; one gets depressed reading the hopeless struggle and the ineluctable descent of Claude Lantier, the
génie manqué, as when reading the appalling narrative of Gervaise's abasement by drinking in
L'Assomoir, one of the most distressful books I ever read. One wonders why he was so pessimistic about the art scene of the Impressionism, that was such a happy period in art, so lively and new, but I guess it had to do with the ensemble of his work, the general disenchantment with human nature and society that he experienced. And it's actually quite understandable; when I read his books, I can't help but seeing the depiction of my own country's present society, so vividly described in books like
La Curée. It's depressing, but totally true.
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