Zola et lourdes etude historique et theologique
Institution:
Université Marc Bloch (Strasbourg) (1971-2008)Disciplines:
Directors:
Abstract EN:
Emile zola discovered in lourdes a wonderful subject which gave him the matter of a novel in which he intends to prove that the worship to the virgin mary made in front of the grotto is based on "lie and illusion". Lourdes contains an objective reporting about the city and the domain of the grotto in 1892. The dividing in five days square with the lasting of the national pilgrimage organised by the assumption fathers : the first and the last day report the travel of the pilgrims from paris to lourdes and back; the three others days are being enacted in front of the grotto and in the hotel where the prominent characters are staying, marie de guersaint and pierre froment. The young woman is paralysed and suffers of a nervous illness of which she is suddenly healed. Zola wants to prove the alleged miracles are natural phenomena. Mary's faith and the crowd's excitement which surrounds her have created adequate conditions for the healing. The other sick people leave lourdes without being definitively healed. Pierre is the "incarnation" of an unbelieving novelist; he denies the authority of apparitions of the virgin mary to bernadette; he considers the seer as an hysteric girl who took their dreams for visions recognized as true by a credulous clergy. The grotto is for zola a desperate and unfruitful attempt made by the church to save the catholic religion which, in zola's thought and aim, will be replaced by his "new religion" announced at the end of lourdes and developed in the five next novels.
Abstract FR:
Emile zola a decouvert a lourdes "un admirable sujet", qui lui fournit la matiere d'un roman, ou il entend demontrer que le culte rendu a la vierge marie devant la grotte repose sur "le mensonge et l'illusion". Lourdes contient d'abord un reportage objectif sur la ville et la domaine de la grotte en 1892. La division en cinq journees correspond a la duree du pelerinage national organise par les peres assomptionnistes : la premiere et la derniere relatent-le voyage des pelerins de paris a lourdes et retour; les trois autres se deroulent devant la grotte et dans l'hotel ou resident les personnages principaux, marie de guersaint, et l'abbe pierre froment. La jeune fille, paralysee, souffre d'une maladie nerveuse soudainement guerie. Zola veut demontrer que les pretendus miracles sont des phenomenes naturels : la foi de marie et l'exaltation de la foule qui l'entoure, ont cree les conditions suffisantes pour sa guerison. Les autres malades quittent lourdes sans etre definitivement gueris. Pierre est "l'incarnation" du romancier incroyant; il nie l'authenticite des apparitions de la vierge marie a bernadette; il considere la voyante comme une fillette hysterique, qui a pris ses reves pour des visions, reconnues veridiques par un clerge credule. La grotte est, pour zola, une tentative desesperee et infructueuse de l'eglise pour sauver le catholicisme moribond, qu'il entend remplacer par sa "religion nouvelle", annoncee a la fin de lourdes et presentee dans les cinq romans suivants.