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Émile Zola
La Curée / The Spoils
Émile Zola's La Curée (The Kill), the second novel in his monumental Les Rougon-Macquart series, is a scorching indictment of the moral corruption and frenzied speculation that characterized France's Second Empire under Napoleon III. The title refers to the "spoils" of the hunt, a metaphor for the vast fortunes being ripped from the modernization of Paris by ruthless property speculators. The novel's central figure is Aristide Saccard (born Rougon), who arrives in Paris and, through amoral financial machinations and a marriage of convenience to the wealthy Renée Béraud du Châtel, amasses a staggering fortune. The core of the story, however, is the scandalous and destructive love affair between Saccard's young wife, Renée, and his own son from a previous marriage, the indolent and beautiful Maxime. Their illicit relationship, which flourishes in the gilded, decadent salons of the new aristocracy, is a symptom of the era's spiritual bankruptcy. Renée, bored and morally adrift in a world of luxury, seeks sensation in the transgressive affair, while Maxime represents the effete and cynical next generation. Zola paints a vivid, brutal picture of a society devouring itself, where traditional values are sacrificed at the altar of money and pleasure. The novel is a masterful study of greed, decadence, and the psychological decay that accompanies rapid, unprincipled social ascent.
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