ZOLA (Emile). Fécondité. Paris, Charpentier et Fasquelle, 18 - Lot 272

Lot n° 272
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Estimation :
300 - 400 EUR
ZOLA (Emile). Fécondité. Paris, Charpentier et Fasquelle, 18 - Lot 272
ZOLA (Emile). Fécondité. Paris, Charpentier et Fasquelle, 1899. Two large volumes in-8°, green half-maroquins with corners, gilt head, untrimmed, publisher's covers preserved (period binding). One of 50 copies on Japanese Imperial paper, this one numbered 24. "Fécondité", the first novel in the new cycle "Les Quatre évangiles", develops Zola's natalist ideas. The writer had already set out these convictions in 1896 in an article announcing his intention to write a work devoted to the subject, then provisionally entitled "Le Déchet" ("The Waste"). In it, he expressed his desire to denounce voluntary birth control, which he saw as the source of a "moral and social tragedy". At the time, as the Revenge approached, the question of the birth rate was central to the national debate. The story is based on a clear opposition between the Froments, a happy couple surrounded by their twelve children, and those who choose to restrict their offspring, or even do without them altogether, destined in the novel for misfortune and social decline. Zola tackles a number of themes related to the birth rate - child abandonment and the role of the public welfare system, contraception, abortion and infanticide - in melodramatic episodes. First published as a serial in "L'Aurore" from May to October 1899, then in volume on October 12 by Fasquelle, the work appeared in the midst of a tumultuous period, just as the Dreyfus affair was getting underway following the Captain's new conviction. It is not so much its literary value as its moral significance that attracts attention, despite strong criticism from the nationalist right. The work also attracted the interest of Sigmund Freud, who ranked it among the ten most influential books he had read. (a few scratches on the binding and a small accident on a corner of the first cover).
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