''Le rêve'' (''The Dream'') is the sixteenth novel in the '' Rougon-Macquart'' series by

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...

. It is about an orphan girl who falls in love with a nobleman, and is set in the years 1860–1869. The novel was published by Charpentier in October 1888 and translated into English by Eliza E. Chase as ''The Dream'' in 1893 (reprinted in 2005). Other recent translations are by Michael Glencross (Peter Owen 2005), Andrew Brown ( Hesperus Press 2005), and Paul Gibbard (

Oxford World's Classics Oxford World's Classics is an imprint of Oxford University Press. First established in 1901 by Grant Richards (publisher), Grant Richards and purchased by OUP in 1906, this imprint publishes primarily dramatic and classic literature for student ...

2018).https://global.oup.com/ukhe/product/the-dream-9780198745983?cc=au&lang=en& Oxford University Press accessed 13/7/2018

Plot summary

''Le rêve'' is a simple tale of the orphan Angélique Marie (b. 1851), adopted by a couple of embroiderers, the Huberts, whose marriage is blighted by a childlessness which they attribute to a curse uttered by Mme Hubert's mother on her deathbed. Angélique is enthralled by the tales of the saints and

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

s — particularly

Saint Agnes Agnes of Rome () is a virgin martyr, venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, Oriental Orthodox Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, as well as the Anglican Communion and Lutheran Churches. St. Agnes is one of several virgin martyrs co ...

and

Saint George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldie ...

— as told in the ''

Golden Legend The ''Golden Legend'' (Latin: ''Legenda aurea'' or ''Legenda sanctorum'') is a collection of hagiographies by Jacobus de Voragine that was widely read in late medieval Europe. More than a thousand manuscripts of the text have survived.Hilary ...

'' of

Jacobus de Voragine Jacobus de Voragine (c. 123013/16 July 1298) was an Italian chronicler and archbishop of Genoa. He was the author, or more accurately the compiler, of the '' Golden Legend'', a collection of the legendary lives of the greater saints of the medi ...

. Her dream is to be saved by a handsome prince and to live happily ever after, in the same way the virgin martyrs have their faiths tested on earth before being rescued and married to

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

in heaven. Her dream is realized when she falls in love with Félicien d'Hautecœur, the last in an old family of knights, heroes, and nobles in the service of

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

and of France. His father, the present Monseigneur, objects to their marrying for reasons of his own. (Before entering the Church he had married for love a woman much younger than himself; when she died giving birth to Félicien, he sent the child away and took holy orders.) Angélique falls ill and pines away. Won over by her virtue and innocence, the Monseigneur finally relents and the lovers are married; but Angélique dies on the steps of the cathedral as she kisses her husband for the first time. Her death, however, is a happy one: her innocence has freed the Huberts and the Monseigneur from their curses.

Relation to the other ''Rougon-Macquart'' novels

Zola's plan for the ''Rougon-Macquart'' novels was to show how heredity and environment worked on members of one family over the course of the

Second French Empire The Second French Empire (; officially the French Empire, ), was the 18-year Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 14 January 1852 to 27 October 1870, between the Second and the Third Republic of France. Historians in the 1930 ...

. All of the descendants of Adelaïde Fouque (Tante Dide), Angélique's great-grandmother, demonstrate what today would be called obsessive-compulsive behaviors. Angélique is obsessed with the lives of the saints and with her dream of a princely marriage. Furthermore, Angélique has a temper and experiences serious mood swings, becoming as passionate as any one of her relatives. Zola strongly implies that, without the upbringing by her adoptive parents and the influence of the cathedral and ''The Golden Legend'', Angélique could easily have been fallen prey to her passions and ended up as a prostitute (like her

cousin Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, ...

Nana Nana, Nanna, Na Na or NANA may refer to: People and fictional characters * Nana (given name), including a list of people and characters with the given name * Nana (surname), including a list of people and characters with the surname * Nana ( ...

). In ''

Le docteur Pascal ''Le Docteur Pascal'' ''(Doctor Pascal)'' is the twentieth and final novel of the '' Rougon-Macquart'' series by Émile Zola, first published in June 1893 by Charpentier. Zola's plan for the ''Rougon-Macquart'' novels was to show how heredity and ...

'', Zola describes Angélique as being a blend of the characteristics of her parents to such a degree that no trace of them shows up in the child. Angélique's mother is Sidonie Rougon, who plays a significant (though brief) role in ''

La curée ''La Curée'' (1871–72; English: ''The Kill'') is the 2nd novel in Émile Zola's 20-volume series Les Rougon-Macquart. It deals with property speculation and the lives of the extremely wealthy Nouveau riche of the Second French Empire, against ...

'' and appears briefly in '' L'œuvre''. (Angélique's father is unknown.) Sidonie is unfeeling and nearly inhuman, a cold, dry woman incapable of love. She is a professional procuress, involved in every shady calling, a seller of "anything and everything." In ''Le docteur Pascal'' (set in 1872), it is revealed that Sidonie has become the austere financial manager of a

home for unwed mothers A maternity home, or maternity housing program, is a form of supportive housing provided to pregnant women. Maternity housing programs support a woman in need of a stable home environment to reach her goals in a variety of areas including educati ...

Adaptations

The novel was dramatized as an

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

of the same name in four acts composed by Alfred Bruneau, produced June 18, 1891, at the Opéra-Comique to a libretto by

Louis Gallet Louis Gallet (14 February 1835 in Valence, Drôme Valence (, ; oc, Valença ) is a commune in southeastern France, the prefecture of the Drôme department and within the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. It is situated on the left bank of the ...

. It was also adapted as two French films, both called ''Le Rêve'' and both directed by

Jacques de Baroncelli Jacques de Baroncelli (25 June 1881 – 12 January 1951) was a French film director best known for his silent films from 1915 to the late 1930s. He came from a Florence, Florentine family who had settled in Provence in the 15th century, occupying ...

: one in 1921 (a silent film) and one in 1931.

Sources

*Brown, F. (1995). ''Zola: A life.'' New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux. *Zola, E. ''Le doctor Pascal'', translated as ''Doctor Pascal'' by E.A. Vizetelly (1893). *Zola, E. ''Le rêve'', translated as ''The Dream'' by Andrew Brown ( Hesperus Press 2005).

References

External links

(French) (English)
Site about the opera ''Le rêve'' by Bruneau
(in French) * (1921) ( silent) (French) * (1931) (French) *
''Le Rêve'', audio version
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reve, Le 1888 French novels Novels by Émile Zola Books of Les Rougon-Macquart Novels about orphans Fiction set in the 1860s French novels adapted into films Novels adapted into operas