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A review by blueyorkie
La Faute de l'abbé Mouret by Émile Zola
3.0
In the Conquest of Plassans, Serge Mouret, during an illness, was watched over by Father Faujas, who took the opportunity to brainwash him. Finally healed, he asked to enter the seminary.
This novel is divided into three parts.
In the first, Serge is a priest in a poor parish in southern France. This village is inhabited by disbelievers much more concerned with their plantations and harvests than their soul's salvation. But he does not suffer, tries to do his best, and takes care of his sister Désirée, a simple-minded who lives among the animals. But he neglects his health and stays for hours in prayer. Nevertheless, his faith is exalted, entirely turned towards the Virgin, the bride, until sickness due to excessive religious practices.
In the second, Doctor Pascal installed him for his recovery at Paradou in the company of Aline, a savage. The latter has lived there for several years under the very tolerant supervision of the young girl's uncle. When Serge emerges from the fever, he no longer remembers his previous life, and the intimacy between the two young people is immediate. The cut is total both in his mind and in space. Above all, Paradou is an immense and entirely enclosed garden except for a small gap through which Serge will recall the century because it is a kind of monastery but a sanctuary where Nature is deified. Even when it is carnal, love is pure, unlike the village.
It has plethoric descriptions of plants, as in La Curée's greenhouse. This greenhouse took part in the disturbances of the loves of Renée and her stepson Maxime. Here, they revive the terrestrial Paradise before the fault.
Finally, in the third part, Serge sees through a breach in the wall, the outside. He returns to his parish and engages in a fight against the flesh. Between this fight and his duties towards his parishioners, he has no compassion for Albine's sorrow.
Zola's characters are often indifferent to the consequences of their actions, frozen in what they believe to be correct.
The idea of this wild garden, almost a jungle, excited me at the time. But I did not find the same pleasure there.
And some characters, such as the maid and even Désirée, seemed caricatured to me.
This novel is divided into three parts.
In the first, Serge is a priest in a poor parish in southern France. This village is inhabited by disbelievers much more concerned with their plantations and harvests than their soul's salvation. But he does not suffer, tries to do his best, and takes care of his sister Désirée, a simple-minded who lives among the animals. But he neglects his health and stays for hours in prayer. Nevertheless, his faith is exalted, entirely turned towards the Virgin, the bride, until sickness due to excessive religious practices.
In the second, Doctor Pascal installed him for his recovery at Paradou in the company of Aline, a savage. The latter has lived there for several years under the very tolerant supervision of the young girl's uncle. When Serge emerges from the fever, he no longer remembers his previous life, and the intimacy between the two young people is immediate. The cut is total both in his mind and in space. Above all, Paradou is an immense and entirely enclosed garden except for a small gap through which Serge will recall the century because it is a kind of monastery but a sanctuary where Nature is deified. Even when it is carnal, love is pure, unlike the village.
It has plethoric descriptions of plants, as in La Curée's greenhouse. This greenhouse took part in the disturbances of the loves of Renée and her stepson Maxime. Here, they revive the terrestrial Paradise before the fault.
Finally, in the third part, Serge sees through a breach in the wall, the outside. He returns to his parish and engages in a fight against the flesh. Between this fight and his duties towards his parishioners, he has no compassion for Albine's sorrow.
Zola's characters are often indifferent to the consequences of their actions, frozen in what they believe to be correct.
The idea of this wild garden, almost a jungle, excited me at the time. But I did not find the same pleasure there.
And some characters, such as the maid and even Désirée, seemed caricatured to me.