July 2025 The Conquest of Plassans Chapters 4-10

Comments & discussion

Hmmmm! I had to re-read two chapters because evidently I read them and didn't remember a thing! I'm not focused! That being said, that Abbe Faujas is one slick operator. I suppose this has some empire implications! The title of the book now becomes clear.

Tess, just noticed that in your bio of Emile Zola you allude to his defence of “Richard Dreyfuss.” I think this confuses Alfred Dreyfus, the Jewish army officer wrongly convicted of treason and banished to Devil’s Island, with the American actor, so you probably want to edit that.

>3 booksaplenty1949: LOL, so right! Nobody every noticed that! Now, I have to figure out how to do that.

The plot thickens. After the rather dreamy, as it were, narrative of La reve we are back again in the politics of small town life.

I didn't read the introduction in order to avoid spoilers, but obviously religion comes under Zola's magnifying glass in this book. I found these quotes in chapter 10 foreboding:

Marthe was living a life of blissful serenity. She no longer attended to Mouret's shouting and yelling. The advent of faith was for her an exquisite joy. She slipped gently into the devotional life, slowly, smoothly. She was rocked in its cradle and fell asleep. p. 109

And he {Abbe Faujas} took on even nobler stature, putting himself out of her reach, like a god at whose feet she eventually prostrated her soul. p. 110

Often Marthe came back exhausted. Religion was destroying her. p. 110