HENNESSY, Susie, The Mother Figure in Emile Zola’s Les Rougon-Macquart : Literary Realism and the Quest for the Ideal Mother, Mellen Press, 2006, 164 p.

ISBN10:  0-7734-5521-3

Description

This work deals with Zola’s realistic depiction of the effects of class, environment and heredity on his fictional women and the children they rear, providing insight into the difficulties facing mothers in late nineteenth-century France. The study of maternal figures in Zola’s Rougon-Macquart reveals the extent to which the author’s explicit goal of depicting reality is often accompanied by narration that casts doubt upon maternal behavior. 

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Fertility and Heredity
2. Motherhood as Alienation
3. Mothers and Industrial Society
4. Motherhood and Sacrifice
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index