Therese Raquin - Emile Zola

Thrse Raquin Is A Clinically Observed, Sinister Tale Of Adultery And Murder Among The Lower Orders In Nineteenth-century Paris. Zolas Dispassionate Dissection Of The Motivations Of His Characters, Mere Human Beasts' Who Kill In Order To Satisfy Their Lust, Is Much More Than An Atmospheric Second Empire Period-piece. Many Readers Were Scandalized By An Approach To Character-drawing Which Seemed To Undermine Not Only The Moral Values Of A Deeply Conservative Society, But Also The Whole Code Of Psychological Description On Which The Realist Novel Was Based.together With The Important Preface To The Second Edition' In Which Zola Defended Himself Against Charges Of Immorality, Thrse Raquin Stands As A Key Early Manifesto Of The French Naturalist Movement, Of Which Zola Was The Founding Father.