«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 Zolas fiction: the question of the authors family secrets. The novels addressed here present a variety of sub-textual issues highlighting Zolas sexual insecurity and anxiety. Their analysis reveals a mystery related to female sexuality that pervades the narratives of Thrse Raquin and La Fortune des Rougon, and that is silently transmitted in Madeleine Frat, La Faute de lAbb Mouret, La Bte humaine, La Cure, Nana, Le Docteur Pascal and Vrit. The novels are explored from the standpoint of psychoanalytical criticism, a tool particularly appropriate for examining Zolas language and illuminating the recurrent theme of the Return of the repressed. Four psychoanalytical theories are adopted: Nicolas Abrahams and Maria Toroks theories of psychic development (presenting the concept of the phantom) and Sigmund Freuds and Jacques Lacans theories of infantile sexuality.