# Les Rougon-Macquart

Les Rougon-Macquart (French pronunciation:) is the collective title given to a cycle of twenty novels by French writer Émile Zola. Subtitled Histoire naturelle et sociale d'une famille sous le Second Empire (Natural and social history of a family under the Second Empire), it follows the lives of the members of the two titular branches of a fictional family living during the Second French Empire (1852–1870) and is one of the most prominent works of the French naturalism literary movement.

## Influences

Early in his life, Zola discovered the work of Honoré de Balzac and his famous cycle La Comédie humaine. This had a profound impact on Zola, who decided to write his own, unique cycle. However, in 1869, he explained in Différences entre Balzac et moi, why he would not make the same kind of book as Balzac:
   In one word, his work wants to be the mirror of the contemporary society. My work, mine, will be something else entirely. The scope will be narrower. I don't want to describe the contemporary society, but a single family, showing how the race is modified by the environment. (...) My big task is to be strictly naturalist, strictly physiologist.
As a naturalist writer, Zola was highly interested by science and especially the problem of heredity and evolution. He notably read and mentioned the work of the doctor Prosper Lucas, Claude Bernard, and Charles Darwin as references for his own work. This led him to think that people are heavily influenced by heredity and their environment. He intended to prove this by showing how these two factors could influence the members of a family. In 1871, in the preface of La Fortune des Rougon, he explained his intent:
   The great characteristic of the Rougon-Macquarts, the group or family which I propose to study, is their ravenous appetite, the great outburst of our age which rushes upon enjoyment. Physiologically the Rougon-Macquarts represent the slow succession of accidents pertaining to the nerves or the blood, which befall a race after the first organic lesion, and, according to environment, determine in each individual member of the race those feelings, desires and passions—briefly, all the natural and instinctive manifestations peculiar to humanity—whose outcome assumes the conventional name of virtue or vice.

## Preparations

In a letter to his publisher, Zola stated his goals for the Rougon-Macquart: "1° To study in a family the questions of blood and environments. [...] 2° To study the whole Second Empire, from the coup d'état to nowadays."

### Genealogy and heredity

Since his first goal was to show how heredity can affect the lives of descendants, Zola started working on the Rougon-Macquart by drawing the family tree for the Rougon-Macquart. Though it was to be modified many times over the years, with some members appearing or disappearing, the original tree shows how Zola planned the whole cycle before writing the first book.
The tree provides the name and date of birth of each member, along with certain properties of his heredity and his life:
* The prepotency : The prepotency is a term used by the doctor Lucas. It is part of a biological theory that tries to determine how heredity transmits traits through generations. Zola apply this theory to the mental state of his protagonists and uses terms from the work of the doctor Lucas: Election du père (Prepotency of the father, meaning the father is the main influence on the child), Election de la mère (Prepotency of the mother), Mélange soudure (Fusion of the 2 parents) or Innéité (No influence from either parent).
* Physical likeness: Whether the member looks like his mother or his father.
* Biographical information: his job and important facts of his life. Additionally, for members still living at the end of Le Docteur Pascal, their place of living at the end of the cycle may be included. Otherwise, the date of death is included.
* The 1878 tree, published in a note included in Une Page d'amour
* The 1892 and final tree, annotated by Zola and which published in 1893 with his final novel Le Docteur Pascal
* A late "mathematical" tree drawn by Georges Pouchet. This was included in Zola's preparatory dossier for the final novel Le Docteur Pascal published in 1893 . Each ancestor has a color, and each child is influenced by one or more of their ancestors.
Note: the gallery does not include the tree made for La Bete Humaine which included for the first time Jacques, the main protagonist of the book
For example, the entry for Jean Macquart on the 1878 tree read: Jean Macquart, né en 1831 - Election de la mère - Ressemblance physique du père. Soldat (Jean Macquart, born in 1831 - Prepotency of the mother - Physical likeness to his father. Soldier)

### The study of the Second Empire

To study the Second Empire, Zola thought of each novel as a novel about a specific aspect of the life in his time. For example, in the list he made in 1872, he intended to make a "political novel", a "novel about the defeat", "a scientific novel", and a "novel about the war in Italy". The first three ideas led to Son Excellence Eugène Rougon, La Débâcle, and Le Docteur Pascal, respectively. However, the last idea would never be made into a book.
Indeed, at the beginning, Zola did not know exactly how many books he would write. In the first letter to his publisher, he mentioned "ten episodes". In 1872, his list included seventeen novels, but some of them would never be made (such as the one on the war in Italy), whereas others were to be added later on. In 1877, in the preface of L'Assommoir, he stated that he was going to write "about twenty novels". In the end, he settled for twenty books.

## Story

Almost all of the main protagonists for each novel are introduced in the first book, La Fortune des Rougon. The last novel in the cycle, Le Docteur Pascal, contains a lengthy chapter that ties up loose ends from the other novels. In between, there is no "best sequence" in which to read the novels in the cycle, as they are not in chronological order and indeed are impossible to arrange into such an order. Although some of the novels in the cycle are direct sequels to one another, many of them follow on directly from the last chapters of La Fortune des Rougon, and there is a great deal of chronological overlap between the books; there are numerous recurring characters and several of them make "guest" appearances in novels centered on other members of the family.

### The Rougon-Macquart

The Rougon-Macquart family begins with Adelaïde Fouque. Born in 1768 in the fictional Provençal town Plassans to middle-class parents (members of the French "bourgeoisie"), she has a slight intellectual disability. She marries Rougon, and gives birth to a son, Pierre Rougon. However, she also has a lover, the smuggler Macquart, with whom she has two children: Ursule and Antoine Macquart. This means that the family is split in three branches:
* The first, legitimate, one is the Rougons branch. They are the most successful of the children. Most of them live in the upper classes (such as Eugene Rougon who becomes a minister) or/and have a good education (such as Pascal, the doctor who is the main protagonist of Le Docteur Pascal).
* The second branch is the low-born Macquarts. They are urban working-class (L'Assommoir), farmers (La Terre), or soldiers (La Débâcle).
* The third branch is the Mourets (the name of Ursule Macquart's husband). They are a mix of the other two. They are middle-class people (bourgeois) and tend to live more balanced lives than the others.
Because Zola believed that everyone is driven by their heredity, Adelaide's children show signs of their mother's original deficiency. For the Rougon, this manifests as a drive for power, money, and excess in life. For the Macquarts, who live in a difficult environment, it is manifested by alcoholism (L'Assommoir), prostitution (Nana), and homicide (La Bête humaine). Even the Mourets are marked to a certain degree; in La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret, the priest Serge Mouret has to fight his desire for a young woman.
Rougon-Macquart family tree :
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Eugène Rougon 1811 - | Eugène Rougon 1811 - | Eugène Rougon 1811 - | Eugène Rougon 1811 - | Eugène Rougon 1811 - | Eugène Rougon 1811 - | Justine Mégot | Justine Mégot | Justine Mégot | Justine Mégot | Justine Mégot | Justine Mégot |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Charles Saccard 1857-1873 | Charles Saccard 1857-1873 | Charles Saccard 1857-1873 | Charles Saccard 1857-1873 | Charles Saccard 1857-1873 | Charles Saccard 1857-1873 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Véronique Beulin d'Orchères | Véronique Beulin d'Orchères | Véronique Beulin d'Orchères | Véronique Beulin d'Orchères | Véronique Beulin d'Orchères | Véronique Beulin d'Orchères | Maxime Saccard 1840-1873 | Maxime Saccard 1840-1873 | Maxime Saccard 1840-1873 | Maxime Saccard 1840-1873 | Maxime Saccard 1840-1873 | Maxime Saccard 1840-1873 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Dr Pascal Rougon 1813-1873 | Dr Pascal Rougon 1813-1873 | Dr Pascal Rougon 1813-1873 | Dr Pascal Rougon 1813-1873 | Dr Pascal Rougon 1813-1873 | Dr Pascal Rougon 1813-1873 | | | Louise de Mareuil | Louise de Mareuil | Louise de Mareuil | Louise de Mareuil | Louise de Mareuil | Louise de Mareuil |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Angèle Sicardot | Angèle Sicardot | Angèle Sicardot | Angèle Sicardot | Angèle Sicardot | Angèle Sicardot | | | | | | | A son 1874- | A son 1874- | A son 1874- | A son 1874- | A son 1874- | A son 1874- |
| Rougon | Rougon | Rougon | Rougon | Rougon | Rougon | | | | | | | Aristide Saccard 1815- | Aristide Saccard 1815- | Aristide Saccard 1815- | Aristide Saccard 1815- | Aristide Saccard 1815- | Aristide Saccard 1815- | Clotilde Saccard 1847- | Clotilde Saccard 1847- | Clotilde Saccard 1847- | Clotilde Saccard 1847- | Clotilde Saccard 1847- | Clotilde Saccard 1847- |
| | | | | | | Pierre Rougon 1787-1870 | Pierre Rougon 1787-1870 | Pierre Rougon 1787-1870 | Pierre Rougon 1787-1870 | Pierre Rougon 1787-1870 | Pierre Rougon 1787-1870 | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Renée Béraud du Châtel | Renée Béraud du Châtel | Renée Béraud du Châtel | Renée Béraud du Châtel | Renée Béraud du Châtel | Renée Béraud du Châtel | Victor Saccard 1853- | Victor Saccard 1853- | Victor Saccard 1853- | Victor Saccard 1853- | Victor Saccard 1853- | Victor Saccard 1853- |
| | | | | | | Félicité Puech | Félicité Puech | Félicité Puech | Félicité Puech | Félicité Puech | Félicité Puech | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Rosalie Chavaille | Rosalie Chavaille | Rosalie Chavaille | Rosalie Chavaille | Rosalie Chavaille | Rosalie Chavaille |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Sidonie Rougon 1818- | Sidonie Rougon 1818- | Sidonie Rougon 1818- | Sidonie Rougon 1818- | Sidonie Rougon 1818- | Sidonie Rougon 1818- | | | | | | | | | | | | | Angélique Marie 1851-1869 | Angélique Marie 1851-1869 | Angélique Marie 1851-1869 | Angélique Marie 1851-1869 | Angélique Marie 1851-1869 | Angélique Marie 1851-1869 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Caroline Hédouin | Caroline Hédouin | Caroline Hédouin | Caroline Hédouin | Caroline Hédouin | Caroline Hédouin | | | A son | A son | A son | A son | A son | A son |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Octave Mouret 1840- | Octave Mouret 1840- | Octave Mouret 1840- | Octave Mouret 1840- | Octave Mouret 1840- | Octave Mouret 1840- | A daughter | A daughter | A daughter | A daughter | A daughter | A daughter |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Marthe Rougon 1819-1864 | Marthe Rougon 1819-1864 | Marthe Rougon 1819-1864 | Marthe Rougon 1819-1864 | Marthe Rougon 1819-1864 | Marthe Rougon 1819-1864 | | | | |
| Adélaïde Fouque 1768-1873 | Adélaïde Fouque 1768-1873 | Adélaïde Fouque 1768-1873 | Adélaïde Fouque 1768-1873 | Adélaïde Fouque 1768-1873 | Adélaïde Fouque 1768-1873 | | | | | | | | | | | | | Denise Baudu | Denise Baudu | Denise Baudu | Denise Baudu | Denise Baudu | Denise Baudu |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | François Mouret 1817-1864 | François Mouret 1817-1864 | François Mouret 1817-1864 | François Mouret 1817-1864 | François Mouret 1817-1864 | François Mouret 1817-1864 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Abbé Serge Mouret 1841- | Abbé Serge Mouret 1841- | Abbé Serge Mouret 1841- | Abbé Serge Mouret 1841- | Abbé Serge Mouret 1841- | Abbé Serge Mouret 1841- |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Mouret | Mouret | Mouret | Mouret | Mouret | Mouret | | | | | | | | | Désirée Mouret 1844- | Désirée Mouret 1844- | Désirée Mouret 1844- | Désirée Mouret 1844- | Désirée Mouret 1844- | Désirée Mouret 1844- |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Grandjean | Grandjean | Grandjean | Grandjean | Grandjean | Grandjean |
| | | | | | | Ursule Macquart 1791-1839 | Ursule Macquart 1791-1839 | Ursule Macquart 1791-1839 | Ursule Macquart 1791-1839 | Ursule Macquart 1791-1839 | Ursule Macquart 1791-1839 | | | | | | | Jeanne Grandjean 1842-1855 | Jeanne Grandjean 1842-1855 | Jeanne Grandjean 1842-1855 | Jeanne Grandjean 1842-1855 | Jeanne Grandjean 1842-1855 | Jeanne Grandjean 1842-1855 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Hélène Mouret 1824- | Hélène Mouret 1824- | Hélène Mouret 1824- | Hélène Mouret 1824- | Hélène Mouret 1824- | Hélène Mouret 1824- |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Silvère Mouret 1834-1851 | Silvère Mouret 1834-1851 | Silvère Mouret 1834-1851 | Silvère Mouret 1834-1851 | Silvère Mouret 1834-1851 | Silvère Mouret 1834-1851 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Quenu | Quenu | Quenu | Quenu | Quenu | Quenu |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Quenu | Quenu | Quenu | Quenu | Quenu | Quenu | | | | | | | | | | | | | Pauline Quenu 1852- | Pauline Quenu 1852- | Pauline Quenu 1852- | Pauline Quenu 1852- | Pauline Quenu 1852- | Pauline Quenu 1852- |
| Macquart | Macquart | Macquart | Macquart | Macquart | Macquart | | | | | | | Lisa Macquart 1824-1863 | Lisa Macquart 1824-1863 | Lisa Macquart 1824-1863 | Lisa Macquart 1824-1863 | Lisa Macquart 1824-1863 | Lisa Macquart 1824-1863 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Christine Hallegrain | Christine Hallegrain | Christine Hallegrain | Christine Hallegrain | Christine Hallegrain | Christine Hallegrain |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Christine Hallegrain | Christine Hallegrain | Christine Hallegrain | Christine Hallegrain | Christine Hallegrain | Christine Hallegrain | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Jacques-Louis Lantier 1864-1876 | Jacques-Louis Lantier 1864-1876 | Jacques-Louis Lantier 1864-1876 | Jacques-Louis Lantier 1864-1876 | Jacques-Louis Lantier 1864-1876 | Jacques-Louis Lantier 1864-1876 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Auguste Lantier | Auguste Lantier | Auguste Lantier | Auguste Lantier | Auguste Lantier | Auguste Lantier | Claude Lantier 1842-1876 | Claude Lantier 1842-1876 | Claude Lantier 1842-1876 | Claude Lantier 1842-1876 | Claude Lantier 1842-1876 | Claude Lantier 1842-1876 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Jacques Lantier 1844-1870 | Jacques Lantier 1844-1870 | Jacques Lantier 1844-1870 | Jacques Lantier 1844-1870 | Jacques Lantier 1844-1870 | Jacques Lantier 1844-1870 |
| | | | | | | Antoine Macquart 1789-1873 | Antoine Macquart 1789-1873 | Antoine Macquart 1789-1873 | Antoine Macquart 1789-1873 | Antoine Macquart 1789-1873 | Antoine Macquart 1789-1873 | Gervaise Macquart 1829-1869 | Gervaise Macquart 1829-1869 | Gervaise Macquart 1829-1869 | Gervaise Macquart 1829-1869 | Gervaise Macquart 1829-1869 | Gervaise Macquart 1829-1869 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Étienne Lantier 1846- | Étienne Lantier 1846- | Étienne Lantier 1846- | Étienne Lantier 1846- | Étienne Lantier 1846- | Étienne Lantier 1846- | A daughter | A daughter | A daughter | A daughter | A daughter | A daughter |
| | | | | | | Joséphine Gavaudan | Joséphine Gavaudan | Joséphine Gavaudan | Joséphine Gavaudan | Joséphine Gavaudan | Joséphine Gavaudan | | | | |
| | | | | | | Joséphine Gavaudan | Joséphine Gavaudan | Joséphine Gavaudan | Joséphine Gavaudan | Joséphine Gavaudan | Joséphine Gavaudan | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Anna Coupeau 1852-1870 | Anna Coupeau 1852-1870 | Anna Coupeau 1852-1870 | Anna Coupeau 1852-1870 | Anna Coupeau 1852-1870 | Anna Coupeau 1852-1870 | | | Louis Coupeau 1867-1870 | Louis Coupeau 1867-1870 | Louis Coupeau 1867-1870 | Louis Coupeau 1867-1870 | Louis Coupeau 1867-1870 | Louis Coupeau 1867-1870 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Coupeau | Coupeau | Coupeau | Coupeau | Coupeau | Coupeau |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Françoise Mouche | Françoise Mouche | Françoise Mouche | Françoise Mouche | Françoise Mouche | Françoise Mouche | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Jean Macquart 1831- | Jean Macquart 1831- | Jean Macquart 1831- | Jean Macquart 1831- | Jean Macquart 1831- | Jean Macquart 1831- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Three children | Three children | Three children | Three children | Three children | Three children |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Mélanie Vial | Mélanie Vial | Mélanie Vial | Mélanie Vial | Mélanie Vial | Mélanie Vial |

### View of France under Napoleon III

As a naturalist, Zola also gave detailed descriptions of urban and rural settings, and different types of businesses. Le Ventre de Paris, for example, has a detailed description of the central market in Paris at the time.
As a political reflection of life under Napoleon III, the novel La Conquête de Plassans looks at how an ambitious priest infiltrates a small Provence town one family at a time, starting with the Rougons. La Débâcle takes place during the 1870 Franco-Prussian War and depicts Napoleon III's downfall. Son Excellence also looks at political life, and Pot-Bouille and Au Bonheur des Dames look at middle class life in Paris.
Note that Zola wrote the novels after the fall of Napoleon III.

## List of novels

In an "Introduction" of his last novel, Le Docteur Pascal, Zola gave a recommended reading order, although it is not required, as each novel stands on its own.

## English translations

All of the twenty novels have been translated into English under various titles and editions. For many years, the novels were best known in bowdlerized editions of the late 19th and early 20th century, especially those published by Vizetelly & Co. Although the more well-known novels in the series received 20th century translations, and Elek Books published 11 new translations during the 1950s, many of the volumes remained largely out-of-print in the English language for decades after Zola's death. For instance, The Fortune of the Rougons was translated in 1898, and then not again until 2012. The Kill was translated in 1895, and then not again until 2004.
After about 1970, modern translations of the more famous novels in the series, such as L'Assommoir and Germinal, were released by publishers like Penguin and Modern Library. Between 1993 (The Masterpiece) and 2021 (The Assommoir), Oxford World's Classics published a complete run of all 20 novels in modern translation.
This list comprises first-edition English translations. Later reprints in different years or under different titles or publishers generally not included. Source for early translation information:

## Adaptations

The BBC adapted the novels into a 27-episode (20 hour) radio drama series called Blood, Sex and Money by Emile Zola. The "radical re-imagining" was broadcast in three seasons on BBC Radio 4 between November 2015 and October 2016.