Pot-Bouille
Encyclopedia
Pot-Bouille is the tenth novel in the Rougon-Macquart
series by Émile Zola
. It was serialized between January and April 1882 in the periodical Le Gaulois
before being published in book form by Charpentier in 1883.
The novel is an indictment of the mores
of the bourgeoisie
of the Second French Empire
. It is set in a Paris
ian apartment building, a relatively new housing arrangement at the time and its title (roughly translating as stew pot) reflects the disparate and sometimes unpleasant elements lurking behind the building's new and façade.
Pot-Bouille was translated into English
by Henry Vizetelly
in 1886 and Percy Pinkerton in 1895; both translations are available in reprints. There have been other English translations since (as Piping Hot!, Pot Luck, Restless House and Lesson in Love), the most recent being by Brian Nelson for Oxford World's Classics
(1999).
William Busnach adapted Pot-Bouille as a play, produced at the Théâtre de l'Ambigu-Comique
in 1883.
, the title is extremely difficult to render in English. The word pot-bouille is a 19th-century French slang term for a large cooking pot or cauldron used for preparing stews and casseroles and also the foods prepared in it. The title is intended to convey a sense of disparate ingredients, the various inhabitants of the building mixed together, to create a potent and heady mix like a strong stew. The impression is to hint at the greed, ambition and depravity which lies behind the pretentious façade of the outwardly well behaved bourgeois apartment block. There is no equivalent word in English to convey this. The closest English term would probably be an expression such as melting pot
.
In the film The Life of Emile Zola
, the novel's title is rendered as Piping Hot.
Condoning the behavior of these characters are the local priest and doctor, who use their positions to cover up everyone's moral and physical failings. The characters' habits and secrets are also guarded by the concierge
, who turns a blind eye to everything going on. The sham respectability of the residents is contrasted with the candor of their servants, who secretly abuse their employers over the open sewer of the building's inner courtyard.
The novel follows the adventures of 22-year-old Octave Mouret, who moves into the building and takes a salesman's job at a nearby shop. Though handsome and charming, Octave is rebuffed by Valérie Vabre and his boss's wife Madame Hédouin before beginning a passionless affair with Madame Pichon. His failure with Madame Hédouin prompts him to quit his job, and he goes to work for Auguste Vabre in the silk shop on the building's ground floor. Soon, he begins an affair with Berthe, who by now is Auguste's wife. Octave and Berthe are eventually caught but over the course of several months, the community tacitly agrees to forget the affair and live as if nothing had happened, thereby restoring the veneer of respectability. Octave marries widowed Madame Hédouin and life goes on in the Rue de Choiseul the way it has always done, with outward complacency, morality and quiet.
and environment worked on members of one family over the course of the Second Empire.
The family representative in Pot-Bouille is Octave Mouret, first introduced briefly in La fortune des Rougon
and playing a larger but background role in La conquête de Plassans
. Octave is the son of first cousins Marthe Rougon and François Mouret and great-grandson of Adelaïde Fouque (Tante Dide), the ancestress from whom the family members inherit varying degrees of what today might be called obsessive-compulsive disorder
. Zola describes him in Le docteur Pascal (the last novel) as an example of indirect heredity, bearing a physical resemblance to his uncle Eugène Rougon (Son Excellence Eugène Rougon
). Like his uncle, Octave is obsessed with power, in the nephew's case over women. He is not ruthless or predatory but uses his charm and good looks to captivate women.
This aspect of his personality is explored further in Au Bonheur des Dames
, the next novel, which finds Octave the owner of a giant department store
catering to female desire. (Octave also appears briefly or is mentioned in La faute de l'Abbé Mouret
, La joie de vivre
, L'œuvre
and Le docteur Pascal.)
In addition to examining Octave as representative of the Rougon-Macquart line, Zola explores the effects of personal history and environment on the other residents of the apartment building.
Les Rougon-Macquart
Les Rougon-Macquart is the collective title given to a cycle of twenty novels by French writer Émile Zola. Subtitled Histoire naturelle et sociale d'une famille sous le Second Empire , it follows the life of a fictional family living during the Second French Empire and is an example of French...
series by Émile Zola
Émile Zola
Émile François Zola was a French writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of naturalism and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism...
. It was serialized between January and April 1882 in the periodical Le Gaulois
Le Gaulois
Le Gaulois was a French daily newspaper, founded in 1868 by Edmond Tarbe and Henri de Pene. After a printing stoppage, it was revived by Arthur Meyer in 1882 with notable collaborators Paul Bourget, Alfred Grévin, Abel Hermant, and Ernest Daudet...
before being published in book form by Charpentier in 1883.
The novel is an indictment of the mores
Mores
Mores, in sociology, are any given society's particular norms, virtues, or values. The word mores is a plurale tantum term borrowed from Latin, which has been used in the English language since the 1890s....
of the bourgeoisie
Bourgeoisie
In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...
of the Second French Empire
Second French Empire
The Second French Empire or French Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.-Rule of Napoleon III:...
. It is set in a Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
ian apartment building, a relatively new housing arrangement at the time and its title (roughly translating as stew pot) reflects the disparate and sometimes unpleasant elements lurking behind the building's new and façade.
Pot-Bouille was translated into English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
by Henry Vizetelly
Henry Vizetelly
Henry Richard Vizetelly was an English publisher, the son of a printer. He was early apprenticed as a wood engraver, and one of his first blocks was a portrait of Old Parr....
in 1886 and Percy Pinkerton in 1895; both translations are available in reprints. There have been other English translations since (as Piping Hot!, Pot Luck, Restless House and Lesson in Love), the most recent being by Brian Nelson for Oxford World's Classics
Oxford World's Classics
Oxford World's Classics is an imprint of Oxford University Press. First established in 1901 by Grant Richards and purchased by the Oxford University Press in 1906, this imprint publishes primarily dramatic and classic literature for students and the general public...
(1999).
William Busnach adapted Pot-Bouille as a play, produced at the Théâtre de l'Ambigu-Comique
Théâtre de l'Ambigu-Comique
The theatre was rebuilt to plans by the architects Jacques Ignace Hittorff and Jean-François-Joseph Lecointe on the boulevard Saint-Martin, at the corner of rue de Bondy...
in 1883.
Explanation of the novel's title
Like Zola's earlier novel L'AssommoirL'Assommoir
L'Assommoir is the seventh novel in Émile Zola's twenty-volume series Les Rougon-Macquart. Usually considered one of Zola's masterpieces, the novel—a harsh and uncompromising study of alcoholism and poverty in the working-class districts of Paris—was a huge commercial success and established...
, the title is extremely difficult to render in English. The word pot-bouille is a 19th-century French slang term for a large cooking pot or cauldron used for preparing stews and casseroles and also the foods prepared in it. The title is intended to convey a sense of disparate ingredients, the various inhabitants of the building mixed together, to create a potent and heady mix like a strong stew. The impression is to hint at the greed, ambition and depravity which lies behind the pretentious façade of the outwardly well behaved bourgeois apartment block. There is no equivalent word in English to convey this. The closest English term would probably be an expression such as melting pot
Melting pot
The melting pot is a metaphor for a heterogeneous society becoming more homogeneous, the different elements "melting together" into a harmonious whole with a common culture...
.
In the film The Life of Emile Zola
The Life of Emile Zola
The Life of Emile Zola is a 1937 American biographical film about French author Émile Zola. Set in the mid through late 19th century, it depicts his friendship with noted painter Paul Cézanne, and his rise to fame through his prolific writing, with particular focus on his involvement in the Dreyfus...
, the novel's title is rendered as Piping Hot.
Plot summary
Pot-Bouille recounts the activities of the residents of a block of flats in the Rue de Choiseul over the course of two years (1861–1863). The characters include:- The Campardons. Madame Campardon has a mysterious medical condition that keeps them from having sex. The husband is having an affair with her distant cousin, who eventually moves in and manages the household while continuing the affair. Despite their best efforts, they cannot conceal this arrangement from their daughter Angèle, who learns all the secrets in the building from the family servant.
- The Duveyriers. Monsieur Duveyrier detests the bourgeois respectability of his wife's household, particularly her pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
playing and takes refuge with a bohemian mistress Clarisse, an arrangement that suits his frigid wife perfectly. When Clarisse aspires to domesticity and respectability, Monsieur Duveyrier attempts suicideSuicideSuicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
and later begins an affair with one of the maids. - The Josserands. Madame Josserand is relentless in her hunt to find husbands for her daughters. Zola compares the business of husband-hunting to prostitutionProstitutionProstitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
and indeed Madame Josserand trots her daughters out in society to snare any man who will have them, under the cover of respectability and decorum. Madame Josserand instills her contempt for men (including her husband) in her younger daughter Berthe, who is able to compromise Auguste Vabre and force a marriage. - The Vabres (Théophile and Valérie). The wife, described as neurotic and somewhat hysterical, is involved in multiple, loveless affairs (it is common knowledge that her son is not her husband’s) and the husband is a hypochondriaHypochondriaHypochondriasis or hypochondria refers to excessive preoccupation or worry about having a serious illness. This debilitating condition is the result of an inaccurate perception of the body’s condition despite the absence of an actual medication condition...
c living in perpetual suspicion of his wife's behavior. - The Pichons. Going through the motions of marriage, they have subjugated all passion in every aspect of their lives, including rearing their daughter, subduing any romance (Madame Pichon has an affinity for the novels of George SandGeorge SandAmantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, later Baroness Dudevant , best known by her pseudonym George Sand , was a French novelist and memoirist.-Life:...
) beneath cold, hollow propriety.
Condoning the behavior of these characters are the local priest and doctor, who use their positions to cover up everyone's moral and physical failings. The characters' habits and secrets are also guarded by the concierge
Concierge
A concierge is an employee who either works in shifts within, or lives on the premises of an apartment building or a hotel and serves guests with duties similar to those of a butler. The position can also be maintained by a security officer over the 'graveyard' shift. A similar position, known as...
, who turns a blind eye to everything going on. The sham respectability of the residents is contrasted with the candor of their servants, who secretly abuse their employers over the open sewer of the building's inner courtyard.
The novel follows the adventures of 22-year-old Octave Mouret, who moves into the building and takes a salesman's job at a nearby shop. Though handsome and charming, Octave is rebuffed by Valérie Vabre and his boss's wife Madame Hédouin before beginning a passionless affair with Madame Pichon. His failure with Madame Hédouin prompts him to quit his job, and he goes to work for Auguste Vabre in the silk shop on the building's ground floor. Soon, he begins an affair with Berthe, who by now is Auguste's wife. Octave and Berthe are eventually caught but over the course of several months, the community tacitly agrees to forget the affair and live as if nothing had happened, thereby restoring the veneer of respectability. Octave marries widowed Madame Hédouin and life goes on in the Rue de Choiseul the way it has always done, with outward complacency, morality and quiet.
Relation to the other Rougon-Macquart Novels
Zola's plan for the Rougon-Macquart novels was to show how heredityHeredity
Heredity is the passing of traits to offspring . This is the process by which an offspring cell or organism acquires or becomes predisposed to the characteristics of its parent cell or organism. Through heredity, variations exhibited by individuals can accumulate and cause some species to evolve...
and environment worked on members of one family over the course of the Second Empire.
The family representative in Pot-Bouille is Octave Mouret, first introduced briefly in La fortune des Rougon
La Fortune des Rougon
La Fortune des Rougon, originally published in 1871, is the first novel in Émile Zola's monumental twenty-volume series Les Rougon-Macquart...
and playing a larger but background role in La conquête de Plassans
La Conquête de Plassans
La Conquête de Plassans is the fourth novel in Émile Zola's twenty-volume series Les Rougon-Macquart. In many ways a sequel to the first novel in the cycle, La Fortune des Rougon , this novel is again centred on the fictional Provençal town of Plassans and its plot revolves around a sinister...
. Octave is the son of first cousins Marthe Rougon and François Mouret and great-grandson of Adelaïde Fouque (Tante Dide), the ancestress from whom the family members inherit varying degrees of what today might be called obsessive-compulsive disorder
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Obsessive–compulsive disorder is an anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts that produce uneasiness, apprehension, fear, or worry, by repetitive behaviors aimed at reducing the associated anxiety, or by a combination of such obsessions and compulsions...
. Zola describes him in Le docteur Pascal (the last novel) as an example of indirect heredity, bearing a physical resemblance to his uncle Eugène Rougon (Son Excellence Eugène Rougon
Son Excellence Eugène Rougon
Son Excellence Eugène Rougon is the sixth novel in the Rougon-Macquart series by Émile Zola. It was serialized in 1876 in Le Siècle before being published in novel form by Charpentier. It was translated into English by Mary Neal Sherwood in 1880, by Kenward Philp in 1884, by Ernest A...
). Like his uncle, Octave is obsessed with power, in the nephew's case over women. He is not ruthless or predatory but uses his charm and good looks to captivate women.
This aspect of his personality is explored further in Au Bonheur des Dames
Au Bonheur des Dames
Au Bonheur des Dames is the eleventh novel in the Rougon-Macquart series by Émile Zola. It was first serialized in the periodical Gil Blas and published in novel form by Charpentier in 1883....
, the next novel, which finds Octave the owner of a giant department store
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
catering to female desire. (Octave also appears briefly or is mentioned in La faute de l'Abbé Mouret
La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret
La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret is the fifth novel in Émile Zola's twenty-volume series Les Rougon-Macquart. Viciously anticlerical in tone, it follows on from the horrific events at the end of La Conquête de Plassans, focussing this time on a remote Provençal backwater village.The plot centres on the...
, La joie de vivre
La Joie de vivre
La joie de vivre is the twelfth novel in the Rougon-Macquart series by Émile Zola. It was serialized in the periodical Gil Blas in 1883 before being published in book form by Charpentier in February 1884. It was translated into English by Ernest A...
, L'œuvre
L'Œuvre
L'œuvre is the fourteenth novel in the Rougon-Macquart series by Émile Zola. It was first serialized in the periodical Gil Blas beginning in December 1885 before being published in novel form by Charpentier in 1886....
and Le docteur Pascal.)
In addition to examining Octave as representative of the Rougon-Macquart line, Zola explores the effects of personal history and environment on the other residents of the apartment building.
Sources
- Brown, F. (1995). Zola: A life. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
- Zola, E. Pot-Bouille, translated as Pot Luck by Brian Nelson (1999).
- Zola, E. Le doctor Pascal, translated as Doctor Pascal by E. A. Vizetelly (1893).
External links
- Pot-bouille, Piping Hot; a realistic novel, 1888 English translation at Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
. - The Annotated list of characters in Emile Zola's Pot-Bouille, full list of characters.
- Pot-Bouille at LibriVoxLibriVoxLibriVox is an online digital library of free public domain audiobooks, read by volunteers and is probably, since 2007, the world's most prolific audiobook publisher...
(audiobook) (1972) (TV) (1957) directed by Julien DuvivierJulien DuvivierJulien Duvivier was a French film director. He was prominent in French cinema in the years 1930-1960...
, featuring Gérard PhilipeGérard PhilipeGérard Philipe was a prominent French actor, who had appeared in 34 films between 1944 and 1959.-Career:...
and Anouk AiméeAnouk AiméeAnouk Aimée is a French film actress. Aimée has appeared in 70 films since 1947. She began her film career in 1947 at age 14. In 1958 she portrayed the tragic artist Jeanne Hébuterne in the film Les Amants de Montparnasse...