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The Fortune of the Rougons

By: Emile Zola
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: The Echo Library
ISBN: 140680164X
ISBN-13: 9781406801644
Released: 20 Jun 2006
RRP: £9.90
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Customer Reviews

Rougon - Macquart, the beginning...... - By: Enda Fahy, 31 Dec 2007
Although not the most thrilling of the Rougon - Macquart series, this book sets the scene for what is to follow. It weaves a rich tapestry of characters & places which recur again & again. It provides the reader with an understanding of the motivations of the characters in the successive books & also of the genealogical basis of the succeeding characters. We see the mental anomalies of the three founding memebers of the "family" which reappear down the generations in different forms & with slight variations.

Set as a tragic love story against the backdrop of a Republican coup d'etat we see the idealistic & romantic hero of the novel being graduallly subdued by the oppurtunistic & cynical members of the family. The book traces the genesis of the Rougons & the Macquarts from the same woman in the town of Plassans & then follows each family branch as they struggle for influence among the bourgeoisie of this town. We see the Rougons as they, after a lifetime of seeming failure, back the right horse & start their ascendancy through the ranks of society. The Macquarts, however, seem destined for eternity to lives of toil & burden, as they the illegitimates descended from a drunkard, never manage to shake off their inherited malaises'.

This book forms the cornerstone of Zola's philosophy regarding geneology, & while discredited nowadays, makes for a very interesting read. The book does not shake the earth in the same manner as some of its successors but it provides the reader with an invaluable insight into his mind & the scientific theories of the era. Although some of the alllusions are somewhat exuberant & the finesses that grace the successive novels not as prevalent here, this book is a worthwhile addition as it provides the backdrop against which a truly amazing series is set.