«The Return of the Repressed»: Uncovering Family Secrets in Zola’s Fiction

This book analyses one of the many levels of complexity not readily apparent to the reader of Zola’s fiction: the question of the author’s family secrets. The novels addressed here present a variety of sub-textual issues highlighting Zola’s sexual insecurity and anxiety. Their analysis reveals a mystery related to female sexuality that pervades the narratives of Thérèse Raquin and La Fortune des Rougon , and that is silently transmitted in Madeleine Férat , La Faute de l’Abbé Mouret , La Bête hu