The Dram Shop by Émile Zola

 The Dram Shop by Émile Zola

Translated in Romanian with the title- Gervaise

 

Gervaise is the heroine of this very good novel

Émile Zola is a name a heard quite early, the first time as one of the representatives of naturalism.

I did not like what I heard in literature class on the subject, and if I remember well, the representatives of this literary style had a penchant for describing even the most embarrassing, awful situations in full detail.

The literature teacher, a wonderful role model mentioned the fact that when Anna Karenina dies on the railway tracks, a naturalist would go on and depict all that happened there, or at least this is how I recall it.

Needless to say, the naturalist movement and Zola have not been among my favorites.

However, the second time I heard about Zola was in better circumstances, connected with the “Dreyfus Affair”.  Émile Zola wrote the famous letter “J’accuse…” in which the French government is accused of anti- Semitism. There is a lot about this in Remembrance of Things Past.

Coming back to The Dram Shop, or Gervaise- the name of the adaptation that I listened to today, it is a naturalistic novel which is impressive for the plight of the heroine.

At the start of the story, she is abandoned by Auguste Lantier, who leaves their two boys with the keys, in the middle of the street- that is already something that shocks the reader. I had and still have fights, but I cannot imagine myself in such a scene. And the Reversal of Fortune (good movie with Jeremy Irons and Glenn Close) happening towards the end is more than odd in the context.

There is a scene at the beginning of the film based on the book, which has stuck in my mind for the fight between Gervaise and another woman, over the humiliating position in which she had been thrown by Auguste. In passing I would just say that I never understood why other men find a “cat fight” so enticing. I think of them as horrible and way more gruesome than fights between men.

Henri Coupeau asks Gervaise to marry him, and after hesitation and doubts, she agrees to marry him. But this is just the beginning of, or the continuation of an ordeal.

Madame Lorilleux is the sister of Henri Coupeau and a mean woman. She abuses and insults her future sister in law, calling her names and mocking her slight infirmity.

Gervaise is a blanchisseuse and works hard, but it is very difficult to make ends meet. Just as she plans to open a new small business, Henri falls from a roof where he had been working and pushing them further into debt.

Madame Lorilleux is quick to blame the innocent sister in law for the fall of her brother.

Alcohol enters the stage and helps give the name to the novel, called L’Assomoir, the place where workers drink and ruin their life.

Indeed, the main culprit, the negative hero of this tale is alcohol. The other negative role is held up by Auguste who does not want to work and finds a way to come back in the life of Gervaise.

Henri and Auguste become drinking buddies. I would not call them friends, for the definition of a friend is – someone who helps you, is there for you and pushes you to do the right thing, live a happy life and more. As for the two men, they just drink and increase the burden on Gervaise who has to work very hard for two useless, lazy bums.

Life is becoming desperate, and the bills accumulate as well as the debts. Gervaise is a moral, admirable woman who refuses a proposition from an admirer to run away with him to Belgium.

Her daughter, Nana becomes a somewhat “fallen woman” and is seen through town in the company of different, older men.

Gervaise herself cannot stand the pressure and loses her strength in the face of so much adversity and trauma.

I will obviously stop short of telling you how it all ends, so that you may expect a happy ending to this otherwise sad story…