The novel works brilliantly in its two aspects: introduction of the Rougon-Macquart cycle and autonomous aeuvre, youth, full of Balzac and Flaubert inheritances.
In the beginning was so Adelaide Fouque, wife of an uncouth peasant Rougon and master poacher and smuggler Macquart, whom she has two children, Anthony and Ursula. After capturing the heritage of the grandmother to his own benefit, the legitimate son, Pierre Rougon, saw the birth of her marriage to the tricky Felicite Puech, Eugene, future politician (His Excellency Eugene Rougon) Aristide, pushy and speculator ( The quarry, Money), Pascal (Dr. Pascal), Sidonie (The quarry) and Marthe (The Conquest of Plassans). The half-brother robbed, Antoine Macquart has in turn three children, Lisa (The Belly of Paris), Gervaise (The Truncheon) and John (The Earth, The Debacle). The last of the siblings, Ursula, married in Marseille that will give him an Mouret Helena (A love page), François (The Conquest of Plassans) and the unfortunate Silvere of the Fortune of Rougon. All son are in place to counter these Rougon, drunk with power and recognition, and these Maquart, eternal losers contaminated by the weak nature of their grandmother.
The fortune of the Rougon blend masterfully past (presentation of the family and its conflicts) and present (the coup d'Etat of December 2, 1851, which saw the creation of the Empire) in subtle back and forth. This section on this itself juxtaposes two levels: First, an admirable policy study, which owes much to Balzac, class divisions of a small provincial town, dominated by the will of the citizens to confiscate power for maintain or increase his income, even fossoyer the Republic (admirable description of the small cabal of yellow salon Felicite Rougon). Then, on a more romantic fashion, painting of a social and love romance between two young workers, Miette and Silvere, who, like the young Second Republic, will be the victims of the coup.
All Zola is already there: this mixture of scientism and spirituality, this documentary effort and ordered enhanced by the power of wide shots and sentimentality intimate plans. It is recommended to continue reading the Rougon-Macquart by The conquest of Plassans, who gets our protagonists a few years later.
