Nana

Author: émile Zola
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2005-05-01
Features: The heroine of L'Assommoir, Nana, is the daughter of the young zinc worker Goujet and the laundress Celéste. Her name is Anne Goujet, but she is nicknamed Nana. Born in 1852, she wanders the streets at the age of fifteen and becomes a low-class prostitute. At eighteen, she is spotted by the owner of a low-end theater, the Variétés, Bourget, who puts her on stage to star in the vulgar opera Venus d'or. However, she has no artistic talent, her voice is like a broken bell, and she doesn't even know how to move her hands and feet on stage. So Bourget has her perform naked to attract the lecherous and lustful members of high society. His motives are revealed in a conversation he has with the playwright Fosco: "Does a woman have to be able to act and sing? Ah! My dear boy, you're too naive. Nana has other strengths, it's true! This strength is worth any other! Just wait and see. As soon as she appears on stage, the entire audience will be drooling." Nana's naked performance indeed captivates the audience, causing a sensation throughout Paris. The next day, the lecherous members of high society flood to see her. While she mixes with these gentlemen, she continues to sell her body, and the old woman La Trémière often comes to pimp for her. She begins an affair with Dagonet, a playboy who has spent three hundred thousand francs on women, who goes bankrupt in stock market transactions and can no longer afford flowers for Nana. Soon, she sets her sights on the banker Steiner, who supports her and lives in the suburban villa "La Maison du Bonheur" that he buys for her. There, she receives both the noble young George Gautier and the Count de Muffat, the royal attendant. When Steiner goes bankrupt, she turns to the Count de Muffat, while at the same time becoming infatuated with the clown Fontaine. Soon after, she marries Fontaine and leads a normal family life, but she soon kicks the Count de Muffat out. However, this happiness doesn't last long. Fontaine is a character like Abbagon, spending nothing in life and even taking back seven thousand francs that he had initially contributed. He frequently abuses and beats Nana. Soon, Fontaine begins an affair with an actress from the Italian opera and becomes her lover, while Nana is kicked out of the house. She is forced to return to prostitution. Later, through the mediation of others, Nana and the Count de Muffat reconcile, and all her expenses are covered by him. She lives like a queen, in extreme luxury, but she only receives Muffat within a set time and enjoys complete freedom, which once again attracts a flood of lechers. She spends money recklessly, and once a man's money is exhausted, she turns him out. One day, Nana suddenly disappears, having had an argument with the theater manager, Bourget. Some say she went to Cairo. A few months later, others say she was captivated by the local governor and is living in the palace. Still others say she was involved with a black man and ended up broke. Some even say she went to Russia and became the lover of a prince. One day, she suddenly returns from abroad and, after getting off the train, goes straight to her aunt's house to visit her son. She contracts smallpox from her son and dies soon after in a hotel. Nana is one of the five major long novels in Zola's naturalist family saga, Les Rougon-Macquart. From the perspective of creative method and literary theory, it is a typical experimental novel. Naturalism evolved from realism and retains its realistic characteristics, going even further in realism. It describes the environment, scenery, and psychological activities of characters more objectively, specifically, and delicately than realism. As Zola himself replied to some of the criticism he faced: "I describe what I have seen and record it. That's all. My work is not partisan or propagandistic; it is a portrayal of reality." To record reality as it is, this is the greatest feature of naturalism, and it is evident throughout Nana. For example, the descriptions of the theater stage, the actors' dressing rooms, the Count de Muffat's residence, and Nana's late-night meals—all are faithful reproductions, with no trace of artistic embellishment.