Zola, Emile; George Holden (tr.);
Nana
Penguin Classics 1972, 470 pages
ISBN 0140442634 http://books.google.com/books?id=wL6MgHUw12UC
topics: | fiction | french
When the 15 year old Nana, an erstwhile prostitute, is to appear on the Parisian Theatre des Varietes, the manager is asked whether she can act or sing - he says, "Nana has something else, dammit, and something that takes the place of everything else. I scented it out, and it smells damnably strong in her, or else I lost my sense of smell." Later, when she comes on stage in a negligee, All of a sudden, in the good-natured child the woman stood revealed, a disturbing woman with all the impulsive madness of her sex, opening the gates of the unknown world of desire. Nana was still smiling, but with the deadly smile of a man-eater. [the men's] faces were tense and serious, their nostrils narrowed, their mouths prickly and parched'. Soon every man was under her spell, as backs arched and hair bristled. [MALE GAZE] Nana is presented as evidence of Zola's theory favouring nature over - she is "the golden fly" rising out of the underworld to feed on society--a predetermined product of her origins.