Abbe Mouret's Transgression

by Emile Zola, Ernest Alfred Vizetelly (Translator)

Overview

The plot centres on the neurotic young priest Serge Mouret, first seen in La Conquête de Plassans, as he takes his orders and becomes the parish priest for the uninterested village of Artauds. The inbred villagers have no interest in religion and Serge is portrayed giving several wildly enthusiastic Masses to his completely empty, near-derelict church. Serge not only seems unperturbed by this state of affairs but actually appears to have positively sought it out especially, for it gives him time to contemplate religious affairs and to fully experience the fervour of his faith. Eventually he has a complete nervous breakdown and collapses into a near-comatose state, whereupon his distant relative, the unconventional doctor Pascal Rougon (the central character of the last novel in the series, 1893's Le Docteur Pascal), places him in the care of the inhabitants of a nearby derelict stately home, Le Paradou.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781663532473
Publisher:	Barnes & Noble Press
Publication date:	11/09/2020
Pages:	440
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.89(d)

About the Author

Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola ( French: 2 April 1840 – 29 September 1902) was a French novelist, playwright, journalist, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism.