The intense and
brutish rapacity of these peasants, their utter lack of any feeling
of morality or duty, their perfect selfishness, not stopping short of
parricide, form a picture of horror unequalled in fiction. It is only to
be regretted that the author, in leaving nothing to the imagination, has
produced a work suitable only for the serious student of sociology.
La Debacle.
In the earlier volumes of the Rougon-Macquart series Zola had dealt with
every phase of life under the Second Empire, and in this novel he tells
the story of that terrific land-slide which overwhelmed the regime. It
is a story of war, grim and terrible; of a struggle to the death between
two great nations. In it the author has put much of his finest work, and
the result is one of the masterpieces of literature. The hero is Jean
Macquart, son of Antoine Macquart and brother of Gervaise (_La Fortune
des Rougon_). After the terrible death of his wife, as told in _La
Terre_, Jean enlisted for the second time in the army, and went through
the campaign up to the battle of Sedan. After the capitulation he was
made prisoner, and in escaping was wounded.
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