L`Homme Social selon Emile Zola Une Sociologie par la Littérature

L’Homme Social selon Emile Zola
Une Sociologie par la Littérature
by
David LEDENT
Ph.D. in French Studies
Supervisor: Dr Loïc GUYON
Mary Immaculate College, University
of Limerick
Submitted to the University of
Limerick, November 2012

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Abstract
Emile Zola (1840-1902), a nineteenth-century French writer whose name is
synonymous with the school of literary naturalism, assembled a substantial corpus of
fictional works in which a strong sociological perspective is immediately apparent to
many readers. Before he wrote each novel, Zola used to carry out extensive
preparatory studies which consisted of both documentary work and fieldwork
observations. By taking these studies seriously, Zola aimed to construct his novels on
the basis of accurate data, which is why he is often considered as a pioneer of the
ethnographic approach. Indeed, Zola defined his own work as a practical sociology
since he wanted his literary creation to contribute to the development of modern
science.
This thesis sets out to analyse the sociology which implicitly informs the Rougon-
Macquart series of novels (1871-1893). Not only did Zola develop an ethnographic
approach, but he also realized that the growth of modernity could be analysed as a
sociological issue and was aware of the stakes involved for society. He displayed an
acute sense of the réel and was among the first to formulate certain sociological
problems which anticipated the key premises of French sociological thought as later
developed by Emile Durkheim (1858-1917). Thus we can demonstrate that Zola was
instrumental in an intellectual evolution which starts with the French philosopher
Auguste Comte and leads via Hippolyte Taine to Emile Durkheim. Zola brought to
literature what Durkheim brought to sociology, namely specific methods and
concepts for analysing the social world. Working from a perspective of sociological
analysis through literary representation, the present study seeks to elucidate fully the
implicit sociology discernible in the Rougon-Macquart novels.