318:). 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.
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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
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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
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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
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since the maids describe her as "blocked"). 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
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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). The husband is a possibly impotent
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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
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Condoning the behaviour 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
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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
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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.
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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, The Ladies' Paradise (
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recounts the activities of the residents of a block of flats in the Rue de
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in 1886 and Percy
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This aspect of his personality is explored further in
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living in perpetual suspicion of his wife's behaviour.
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211:Explanation of the novel's title
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518:Théâtre de l'Ambigu-Comique
516:as a play, produced at the
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670:, full list of characters.
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215:Like Zola's earlier novel
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399:La faute de l'Abbé Mouret
31:First edition title page.
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1404:Fiction set in the 1860s
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778:La ConquĂŞte de Plassans
533:) in 1957, directed by
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469:(1885, tr. unknown for
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357:La conquĂŞte de Plassans
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388:Au Bonheur des Dames
330:Zola's plan for the
314:Au Bonheur des Dames
194:Second French Empire
147:Au Bonheur des Dames
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683:Project Gutenberg
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233:In the 1937 film
196:. It is set in a
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1136:La Bestia humana
1000:Film adaptations
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806:Une page d'amour
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20:Pot-Bouille
1359:(2016 film)
1351:(1937 film)
1289:(1995 film)
1286:Cruel Train
1008:L'Assommoir
939:Non-fiction
820:Pot-Bouille
799:L'Assommoir
702:(in French)
693:Pot-Bouille
687:(in French)
678:Pot-Bouille
667:Pot-Bouille
617:Pot-Bouille
594:Pot-Bouille
573:Pot-Bouille
552:, in 1972.
550:Pot-Bouille
543:Anouk Aimée
531:Pot-Bouille
514:Pot-Bouille
508:Adaptations
499:(1999, tr.
477:Pot-Bouille
467:Piping Hot!
440:Piping Hot!
432:Pot-Bouille
343:Pot-Bouille
296:George Sand
252:Pot-Bouille
228:melting pot
223:pot-bouille
218:L'Assommoir
190:bourgeoisie
160:Pot-Bouille
1373:Categories
1326:Naturalism
883:La Débâcle
738:Émile Zola
556:References
241:Piping Hot
177:Le Gaulois
171:Émile Zola
169:series by
41:Émile Zola
1208:In Secret
1032:The Earth
973:L'Ouragan
630:Zola, E.
615:Zola, E.
520:in 1883.
305:concierge
282:marriage.
116:paperback
77:Publisher
1322:(father)
1192:Germinal
1152:Germinal
1128:Gervaise
1048:L'Argent
1016:Germinal
965:Messidor
957:Libretti
876:L'Argent
855:La Terre
841:Germinal
764:La Curée
621:Pot Luck
569:Pot Luck
497:Pot Luck
462:(1999).
444:Pot Luck
336:heredity
260:prolapse
205:stew pot
198:Parisian
112:hardback
47:Language
1313:Related
1227:Le RĂŞve
862:Le RĂŞve
848:L'Ĺ’uvre
642:(1893).
627:(1999).
411:L'Ĺ“uvre
272:suicide
192:of the
188:of the
106:Print (
1243:Lazare
1211:(2013)
1203:(2009)
1200:Thirst
1195:(1993)
1187:(1985)
1179:(1982)
1171:(1970)
1163:(1966)
1155:(1963)
1147:(1957)
1139:(1957)
1131:(1956)
1123:(1955)
1115:(1954)
1107:(1953)
1099:(1944)
1091:(1943)
1083:(1938)
1075:(1934)
1067:(1931)
1059:(1928)
1051:(1928)
1043:(1926)
1035:(1921)
1027:(1920)
1019:(1913)
1011:(1909)
992:(1916)
984:(1905)
976:(1901)
968:(1897)
583:(1999)
579:
326:novels
151:
134:
108:serial
98:France
55:Series
50:French
37:Author
268:piano
186:mores
71:Novel
67:Genre
1184:Nana
1120:Nana
1096:Nana
1072:Nana
1040:Nana
813:Nana
599:IMDb
577:ISBN
541:and
458:for
450:and
414:and
114:and
696:at
681:at
638:by
623:by
597:at
420:.)
1375::
545:.
446:,
442:,
408:,
402:,
243:.
230:.
110:,
730:e
723:t
716:v
661:.
571:(
118:)
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