Zola’s Sense of Reality: Repetition, Deadtime, and Boredom in La Joie de vivre

Abstract

ABSTRACT This essay considers Emile Zola's La Joie de vivre (1884) as a study of boredom which turns into a self-reflexive study of literature itself, highlighting the ways in which the text slows down perceptions of objects, events, and the passage of time. This ‘roman psychologique' stretches the reader's attention, thereby inducing forms of ennui that mirror those experienced by the novel's characters. By examining how Zola's writing warps the ‘reality effect' and how it dissolves the distinction between narration and description, this investigation shows furthermore that Zola’s literary experimentation pushes his naturalism in a modernist direction.