Перевод по английскому языку «Деньги», анализ романа Золя

«Деньги», анализ романа Золя

«Money,» Zola’s novel analysis

Zola wrote a novel in a year and finished it in 1891. Even before the release of the novel, parts of it were published in the Gil Blas magazine, yet the whole novel was published a month after it had been written. «Money» is the eighteenth volume of the Rougon-Macquarts series. It is devoted to financial operations and fraud of the Second Empire. This is a condition preceding the collapse of the empire described in the novel «Defeat.» It was not Zola himself who invented all the peripetias of the World Bank creation and collapse, but he took the idea from the Bank of the Universal Union, which developed very quickly and survived the collapse only 15 years later than described in the novel. The prototypes were also the damaged railway construction of the Pereira brothers and the activities of the banker Mires. As the true founder of naturalism, Zola carefully consulted with specialists in the field of banking, in which he understood nothing at first. Naturalist Zola thought of a series about the natural and social story of one family that lived in the era of the Second Empire. And the novel «Money» considers natural and social regularities of the interaction between man and money. Literary scholars do not define the novel as a love or psychological story; this is a new type of a novel, in which a social phenomenon (exchange, bank) affects the psychology of people. The scene of the novel takes only 4 years — from 1864 to 1868. The novel clearly outlines the historical events that happened at that time influencing the financial empire. The novel describes Saccard’s plan for the World Bank, its foundation and collapse. Against the background of this grandiose affair, many events happen in the life of the heroes. Retrospectively it is described how Saccard came to conquer Paris, how he raped a girl on the stairs who later gave birth to Victor. Saccard knew about the boy, already an adult, at the end of the novel. Zola insisted on the fact that money played a dual role, both destructive and creative; according to the writer, it was «a factor of creativity and progress.» The problem of money is associated with the problem of capital and capitalism as a whole. In a philosophical way, it is embodied in the character of the 35-year-old Marxist Sigismund, texting with Marx and talking about the time when only work will become a measure of value. Saccard is even frightened by such a prospect for a moment, since it is so obvious. Sigismund does not dream of blowing up the exchange, but he predicts the time when the state will become a single universal bank. This romantic died, remaining faithful to his impossible dream of justice and love. Caroline’s dream is, in essence, Zola’s own dream — it is humankind, cleared of the disgusting infection of money. Saccard considered money to be a fertilizer for the future of humanity, the dung. But at the end of the novel, Caroline becomes convinced that money cannot be blamed for the vileness and crimes it gives birth to. The problem of money has a psychological basis as well. According to Zola, the desire for money is inherent in the nature of man: «Humanity has no more stubborn and fiery dream than trying happiness, getting everything by the whim of fate, becoming a king, becoming a god!» The novel raises a number of psychological problems: the problem of human happiness fleeting, the ghostly luck. Shares of the World Bank during its heyday were sold at the price of 3 thousand francs each, but at the end of the novel, they went to Meshen, «a bird of prey living on carrion from the fields of financial battle, for 50 sou each. The problem of responsibility is embodied in female characters, irresponsibility — in the image of the main hero. The poet Emile Verhaeren believed that the novel depicts not so much people as vices, and the main character of the novel is speculation. If to reject this controversial judgment, the main character of the novel is Aristide Saccard, who was first introduced in the second novel of the cycle «Prey». He invented a name for himself, meaning «robber.» Saccard is a symbol of an entire era, professing the philosophy of success and pleasure, rejecting moral and ethical values. Saccard is a 50-year-old banker, but «the age did not fix on his small figure. He looked like 38. «He was still skinny and smart, like a young man.» The hero had a dark face with hollow cheeks, the one similar to the face of a puppet. There was not a single grey hair in his thick hair. The empire was threatened by a crisis, and Saccard seemed to be personally threatened by the crisis. The regime of the empire invented him. He loved and defended the empire, which for 12 years had been feeding him, as well as his brother, the politician Rougon. Saccard came to Paris immediately after the coup, hungry, with a crazy thirst for pleasure. Saccard quickly got rich thanks to some suspicious marriage. Being married, he seduced the young Rosalie Shawain, disappearing from her life and leaving her mother 12 promissory notes of 50 francs each. Rosalie gave birth to Victor, who remained an orphan and was brought up by Aunt Meshen. Then he converted his last name Sikardo into Saccard. The two sons of the hero, the legitimate Maxim and the illegal Victor, are similar to each other, although the first is pampered and lives in luxury left from his deceased wife, the second is a beggar. But Victor does not arouse sympathy or tenderness among the readers. A 12-year-old early-matured boy sleeps with a 40-year-old aunt, does not think about studying and is quite pleased with his life. Victor’s life begins with rape; running away from the orphanage, he rapes an innocent girl. So the moral vice in the life of the Rougons is closed. Maxim characterizes his father this way: he is no worse than others, but for him children and wives are in the second place, and in the first is money. For him, protecting money is much more important than protecting life, his own or someone else’s. Saccard conquered Paris many times, owned millions. By the beginning of the novel, he again had found himself with nothing and again with a thirst for solid capital, the power of gold. Saccard had speculated on land of the new Paris for 10 years, then got bankrupt. Now he wondered whether to engage in politics or embark on the greatest swindle. He chose a swindle, as his brother, Rougon, who did not help him to engage in politics in Paris, rejected him. Then Saccard decided to establish a bank with 25 million. Saccard is a «scourge of God,» leading to the collapse and death of many inhabitants. Saccard felt like a bull, which people and circumstances pushed into the arena. He stared at the exchange as the commander, studying all the approaches to the fortress before the storm. In his enterprises, Saccard, according to Gamlen, immediately saw the poetry of the results, not yet reaching the prose of implementation. The author calls Saccard an unashamed businessman, a money executioner with dirty hands. Gunderman considered Saccard to be a too hot man who had too much imagination, and predicted the death of the Saccard World Bank in 3 years. Banker Gunderman is the owner and king of Paris, his bank has made a million in a century. A lively mind, tireless work, careful and persistent efforts aimed at one goal helped him to reach it. Gunderman is Jewish, and Saccard experienced ancient racial hatred towards him, although in his soul he envied the success of the Jews and their ability to handle numbers. It was to Gunderman that the money of the World Bank passed. In front of the reader, there is a whole gallery of female images; Zola considers them in connection with money or its absence. This is the widowed Princess d’Orviedo, who, on the wealth of her unloved husband, decided to build a House of Labour in order to educate the poor, Caroline Gamlen, who became the housekeeper of Saccard, all her life helping her brother-engineer George, who was not lucky in business. Caroline left her husband-millionaire, who was rude to her. The money didn’t seem to forgive her for giving it up. Caroline is the main character of the novel. She is the hope who loves life and is happy with it. Zola assumed that Caroline would, like the ancient choir, judge people and be higher than all disasters. Countess de Beauvillier and her daughter Alice live in a shabby house — the last thing left of the noble family wealth. The countess pretends that her business is going well, keeps equipage, servants, invites guests, but saves on food and linen in everyday life. Caroline calls their life the comedy of luxury, which they consider necessary to play. The unfortunate lose everything by investing scarce savings in the World Bank. The brightest images of the novel are related to money. So the exchange is compared to the heart of a quarter beating from one to three o’clock. Saccard dreams of establishing the  kingdom of gold. The whole life of Paris seems to be subordinate to money. Everything associated with the exchange is compared with weed grass that grew on the edge of a huge cloak, and stockbrokers and other people associated with the exchange are compared with robbers on a big road. The exchange rocks and shudders, like a driven motor. From the apartment of the translator Sigismund, from the height of a bird’s flight, the exchange seems to be an anthill with ant-people rushing around. The exaltation about World Bank shares and the increasing rate of exchange shares are in tune with the music of the Second Empire festivities. Saccard takes the ringing of coins coming from under the ground near the house of banker Kolb for a good omen. Meanwhile, Kolb melts coins of other countries into ingots every day, profiting from the gold exchange rate. Princess d’Orviedo calls the bank a hellish machine of exchange play and excitement, which leads to ruin and death. She refuses to buy World Bank shares, which does not prevent the princess from going bankrupt on charity. All the novel symbols are somehow associated with an exchange that lives a special life. This is the most money-dependent humanity in miniature.