Summary of the womb of Paris
Emile Zola The
womb of Paris
Florent returned to Paris, where seven years ago, in December 1851, after barricade fights in the night city, he was sent into exile, to the hell of Cayenne. He was taken only for the fact that he, like a lost man, wandered around the city at night and his hands were bloody-he was trying to save a young woman wounded before his eyes, but she was already dead. The blood in the hands seemed to the police enough evidence. With two comrades who soon died on the way, he miraculously fled Cayenne, wandered around the Dutch Guiana and finally decided to return to his hometown, which he dreamed all seven years of his torment. He hardly recognizes Paris: on the very spot where the once-blooded woman, whose blood had killed Florent, lies, today stands the Central Market, the “belly of Paris” – fish, meat, cheese, demanding ranks, the realm of food, the apotheosis of gluttony, over which, mixing, floating smells of cheeses, sausages, oils,
… From his early youth, Florent took upon himself all the care for his brother: their mother died when he had just begun to study law in Paris. Taking twelve-year-old Kenya to himself and desperately struggling with poverty, Florent tried to teach something to his little brother, but he was much more successful in mastering the cooking business, which he was taught by the neighbor of the shopkeeper Gavar. From Kenu turned out to be an excellent cook. After the arrest of his brother, he settled in with their uncle Gradel, became a successful sausage-maker, married the magnificent beauty Lisa, the daughter of Makkarov of Plassan. A daughter was born. Kenya less and less often recollects Florana, considering him dead. His appearance in sausage causes Kenya and Lisa fear – however, Kenya immediately invites his brother to live and mess with them. Florent is burdened by sponging and forced idleness, but can not help but admit that he gradually comes to his senses in this house, smelling of food, among fat, sausages, melted lard. Soon Gavar and Kenu find him a supervisor’s place in the pavilion of sea fish: now it is his job to monitor the freshness of the goods and the honesty of the merchants in the calculations. Meticulous and incorruptible, Florent proceeds to this work and soon wins a general respect, although at first his gloominess and restraint (behind which only timidity and gentleness were hidden) are frightened off by regulars of the market. And the eternal rival of Lisa’s sausage, the second beauty of the market – Louise Meiguden, nicknamed Normandka – even has a look at him… Florent fumbles with her little son Misha, teaching him to read and write, and the little felas with angelic appearance is attached to him with all his heart. Drawing into the hearty, spicy, noisy life of the market, Florent converges with Claude, who goes here to write etudes, and visits Lebigra’s pub in the evenings, where men gather in the evenings to drink and talk. They talk more and more about politics: the owner of the tavern, the silent Lebigr, sometimes hints at his participation in the events of 1848 … The home-bred Jacobin Sharve, a long-haired private teacher in a worn frock-coat, and the wicked hunchback appraiser Logr, and the messenger Lakail, and loader Alexander. They are the circle of Florent’s interlocutors, who gradually ceases to hide his views and more and more often speaks of the need to overthrow the tyranny of the Tuileries… The time of Napoleon III – Napoleon the Small – stands. The days of Florent are monotonous, but in the evenings he takes heart. a long-haired private teacher in a worn frock coat, and an evil hunchback appraiser Logr, and peddler Lakail, and loader Alexander. They are the circle of Florent’s interlocutors, who gradually ceases to hide his views and more and more often speaks of the need to overthrow the tyranny of the Tuileries… The time of Napoleon III – Napoleon the Small – stands. The days of Florent are monotonous, but in the evenings he takes heart. a long-haired private teacher in a worn frock coat, and an evil hunchback appraiser Logr, and peddler Lakail, and loader Alexander. They are the circle of Florent’s interlocutors, who gradually ceases to hide his views and more and more often speaks of the need to overthrow the tyranny of the Tuileries… The time of Napoleon III – Napoleon the Small – stands. The days of Florent are monotonous, but in the evenings he takes heart.
The market meanwhile lives its nourishing, clamorous life: the merchants are intriguing, quarreling, and gossiping. Normandy scolds eternal rival Lisa and dissolves rumors about her and about Florana. It is he who becomes the main subject of discord. The old maiden Mademoiselle Sage, who feeds on the remnants of the Tuillerian feasts (they are distributed free of charge on the market), spreads gossip about everyone and everything, and for this she receives free gift tidbits. Skinks, squabbles, skirmishes every minute flare up in the realm of abundance. Florent does not want to notice all this – he is already absorbed in the idea of an uprising, which he discusses with Gavar and new friends in the Lebigra squash. These conversations give their monotonous life, passing in the neighborhood with the giant market, a new meaning and acuity. Mademoiselle Sozha tirelessly gossips about the revolutionary mood of the new guardian of the fish ranks, these rumors reach Lisa, she starts hinting to her husband that it’s good to get rid of Florent, and soon the whole market is sure that Florent is a dangerous and unrepentant “red.” Having already made enemies to himself with honesty and straightforwardness, he becomes an outcast in the market and feels himself to be only among those who care for him, Lebigra’s guests.
… In the market together grow Marjolen and Kadina, who do not know their parents, since childhood, sleeping in the same bed at the aunt Chantimess’s aunt. Their children’s friendship imperceptibly passes into love – or what seems to them love, for by the age of seventeen Gavar Marjolin’s henchman is simply a beautiful animal, and fifteen-year-old Kadina is the same adorable and equally thoughtless animal. She trades with flowers, runs around the market, and here and there she intercepts another yummy. Once beautiful Lisa decides to go to the poultry house Gavar and talk with him about dangerous political disputes with Lebigra. Gavar, she did not find. Marjolen, rejoicing the guest, took her on the bench for a long time, then jokingly tried to hug – and Lisa hit him with all her swing with her fist between the eyes. The boy collapsed to the floor, revealing his head against the stone counter. Fortunately, he did not remember anything when he came to himself. He was sent to the hospital, but after the fall he became a complete idiot, finally becoming a jubilant, full-bodied animal. For Florent and Claude, he becomes a symbol of the market, his soul – or, rather, a symbol of the absence of this soul.
Florent vainly tries to draw Claude into a political struggle. “In politics, you are as much an artist as I am,” Claude said casually, interested only in art. But Gavar is fond of politics in earnest and begins to demonstratively carry a gun, talking about the victory of the Republicans as a matter of solved. Frightened Lisa, with the blessing of the cure, examines Florent’s papers in his room and learns that in his unrealizable dreams, Florent had already split the city into twenty sectors, at the head of each provided for the commander-in-chief and even painted icons for each of the twenty squads. This frightens Lisa. Meanwhile, the old woman Sazhe learns from the accidental slip of the little daughter Kenya that Floran is a runaway convict. This hearing with the rapidity of fire covers the entire market. The frightened Lisa finally decides to go to the prefecture with a denunciation to the brother-in-law, which still gave the whole market for his cousin. Here, the sullen bald gentleman tells her that police commissars of three cities have informed police of Florent’s return from hard labor. All his life, all work in the Central market was thoroughly known to the police. The prefecture hesitated only because it wanted to cover the whole “secret society”. On Florana both the old woman Sazha and even the apprentice Kenya Auguste were telling… Lisa understands that her husband is beyond suspicion and, therefore, out of danger. Only here it becomes clear to her all the senselessness of her own denunciation. Now she can only wait, when Florent, in life is not offended pigeon, will be arrested. All his life, all work in the Central market was thoroughly known to the police. The prefecture hesitated only because it wanted to cover the whole “secret society”. On Florana both the old woman Sazha and even the apprentice Kenya Auguste were telling… Lisa understands that her husband is beyond suspicion and, therefore, out of danger. Only here it becomes clear to her all the senselessness of her own denunciation. Now she can only wait, when Florent, in life is not offended pigeon, will be arrested. All his life, all work in the Central market was thoroughly known to the police. The prefecture hesitated only because it wanted to cover the whole “secret society”. On Florana both the old woman Sazha and even the apprentice Kenya Auguste were telling… Lisa understands that her husband is beyond suspicion and, therefore, out of danger. Only here it becomes clear to her all the senselessness of her own denunciation. Now she can only wait, when Florent, in life is not offended pigeon, will be arrested. Only here it becomes clear to her all the senselessness of her own denunciation. Now she can only wait, when Florent, in life is not offended pigeon, will be arrested. Only here it becomes clear to her all the senselessness of her own denunciation. Now she can only wait, when Florent, in life is not offended pigeon, will be arrested.
And it happened. Take and Gavar, sporting a pistol, and now to death frightened. Immediately after the arrest in his house, a fight begins for his condition. Floran is taken to his brother’s apartment, but Florans refuses to say goodbye to Kenya, who is busy preparing blood sausage – he is afraid to feel himself and grieve him. At the court, Floran is credited with more than twenty accomplices, of whom he barely knows seven. Logra and Lacaille were acquitted. Florent and Gavar were sent into exile, whence this time they would not return.
Remembering a friend, Claude Lantier bypasses the jubilant, gigantic Central market. The glittering, full-blown beauty Lisa Kenu puts on the counter hams and tongues. The old woman sozha walks between the rows. Normandy, who had just married Lebigra, was greetting the former rival Lisa in a friendly way. Claude surrounds the triumph of the womb, everything around breathes fat health, – and the hungry artist mutters through his teeth: “What scoundrels, however, are all these decent people!”