Zola ou l'envers de la science: de La Faute de l'abbé Mouret au Docteur Pascal

Eighteen years elapsed between the publication of La Faute de l'abbé Mouret (1875) and Le Docteur Pascal (1893), respectively fifth and last in Zola's Rougon-Macquart series of twenty novels. They present none the less some striking similitudes: same structural dynamics in their construction, same underlying metaphysical themes, recurrence of resembling characters, etc. Yet, the main dissimilarities between the two works are traced here through the close study of spaces and places and their symbolic meaning. Thus, light is shed on the significant evolution of Emile Zola's metaphysical thought between 1875 and 1893. (In French) (CBJ)