Zola's novel on crime and repentance

Prof. Sunanda Mahendra

FICTION: On reading the Sinhala translation of the French novel Therese Raquin by Emile Zola (1840-1902), translated into Sinhala by the award winning translator and dramatist Premaranjith Tillekaratne, Saragi (Sarasavi 2006), I felt that the task before the original writer has been well understood from several points of view.

Basically, the translator has adopted a language that suits the tonal elements and situations of the original narrative structure predominantly the naturalistic factors in creativity, which we of course read and conceive in English as a study in adultery crime and repentance.

The involvement of either an extra marital sex relationship or a case in adultery on the part of two human beings is not by any means a simple pardonable situation from the conventional standpoint though it happens too often.

This should be visualised via the two characters depicted in Zola's novel, Therese and Laurence, where the former is the legitimate wife of the victim Camille, shown as a feeble though sensitive man, loving his wife but stands aloof from being too lecherous and the latter is the friend and intimate visitor who makes advances to the former and wins her mind and body for his sake in a particular human situation which at times is rather grim and gloomy, or bright and glamorous.

The inevitable events that follow one by one in the life of the two characters Therese and Laurence, where each one of them is shown as responsible for the assassination of the husband of Therese as a result of the stark passionate intimacies of the two go into the making of the main narrative structure.

This is a factor that has to be reckoned seriously in creativity, which Zola insisted in his philosophy of naturalism in literature. Zola's naturalism is sensitively captured in the Sinhala translation in its total coherence where the inner behaviour is more significant than the outer story layer.

Translator's fondness for Zola is also shown in his previous translation of the work Shame titled as Vilibiyad where actually writer Zola makes an emphasis not merely on the outer story pattern but more on the psychological nuances of the behaviour of his characters constantly in conflict with each other depicting the naturalistic turmoils in the living conditions.

Naturalism

If a reader is interested in knowing the theories of naturalism as laid down by Zola, the main sources would be the preface to his work 'The Fortune of Rougons (1871) and The Experimental Novel (1880). It could be deduced that the actual creative act via naturalism (though one could use the term realism concurrently) Zola believed in a form, which is more visible and penetrative than it actually happens normally.

In this sense, the novel, according to Zola, should reflect the process of research and observation as in a laboratory. According to him the characters should be conceived in accordance with psychology, sociology, and laws of heredity.

They were to be placed in an accurately constructed environment representing a segment of time and space and their conduct is to evolve naturally from the interaction of their personalities and environment.

Thus the novel or the creation for Zola stood as a study of the source and development of physical and psychological traits blended. This could well be observed in the work under discussion, where the natural instinct of the humans over shadow the morals and they in turn make them look more victims of circumstances.

This may not overlook society and its cross currents and pitfalls. It is said that Zola wanted to include all the aspects of his characters into a pattern supplementing the complex intricacies of their interactions.

This could be observed in the relationship of the family circle of Raquin, where the three characters, Therese, Camille, and Laurence meet each other under one roof or in one room their fancies and foibles are interlinked.

Their grievances, happiness and sorrows are interlinked as inseparable entities. Zola attempts to dissect the behaviour patterns without any comments allowing the reader to make judgements as to the plight of the human relationships he creates.

History

If I am not mistaken, this novel Therese Raquin is one in a series of narratives he worked not as sequels but as separate works underlining the psycho-socio-biological history of a whole era where he played the role of the investigator cum re-creator of the decadent family links and the support rendered by the equally similar administrations which he deemed as corrupt, that lay buried especially in urbanised families, where the constant urge was to seek happiness and pleasure devoid of a moral integrity.

As a result of these investigations, which eventually came to be rewritten as 'works of fiction', some of the more conventional type of critics of the time made several charges of pornography and 'gutter sweeping' on Zola.

One such example is the novel titled Nana (1880) depicting the story of a prostitute who is beautiful, stupid and unscrupulous. The powerful study of the effects of alcoholism is depicted in his well-known novel, The Dram Shop (1877) The novel titled The Germinal (1885) is a study of the social problems of a mining community.

The work titled The Earth (1887) shows how the lost roots of a peasantry makes the humans feel isolated from the earth which is their sole belonging and inheritance from birth.

Today it is seen that the re-search for Zola and the re-reading of his works may result in the rediscovery of a lost investigative narrative tradition.

Thus translator Tillekaratne should be encouraged to take up this task of the rediscovery as a dedicated cause to the enrichment of the contemporary Sinhala literature.

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