LE MODÈLE DE L’« AUGUSTA MERETRIX » DANS L’ÉROTISME ZOLIEN
THE MODEL OF “AUGUSTA MERETRIX” IN EROTICISM OF EMILE ZOLA

Summary/Abstract: To express a dark feminine eroticism and illustrate the excesses of the nobility and bourgeoisie, Zola uses the implicit model of the dissolute Roman empress. The model of “augusta meretrix”, in the past embodied by the famous Messalina, is at the origin of many wealthy Zola’s characters whose sexuality is perpetually unsatisfied and who sink into the unbridled pursuit of pleasure by making love with brutes from the people or much younger lovers. This erotic canvas, which includes its variants, is certainly not invented by Zola who only resumes commonplaces, but allows the author to paint the black legend of the woman whose status is ambivalent in his work and severely review the imperial orgy in which engage the haves under the reign of Napoleon III and all that money distorts.

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