Thérèse Raquin
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Thérèse Raquin is the title of a novel (first published in 1867) and a play (first performed in 1873) by the French writer Émile Zola. The novel was originally published in serial format in the journal L'Artiste and in book format in December of the same year. Internal evidence of Degas's Interior Scene (The Rape) suggests that it may be based on a scene from Thérèse Raquin. The novel is an early instance of the classic adultery-murder plot, treated also in The Postman Always Rings Twice.
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Plot summary
Thérèse Raquin begins an affair with Laurent, an artist friend of her husband, and they conspire to drown the husband, while out on a boat trip. This enables them to marry, but their guilt comes between them: they imagine they see the dead man in their bedroom while they make love and Laurent cannot paint a picture (even a landscape) which does not in some way resemble the dead man. They also have to look after Thérèse's elderly mother-in-law, who has suffered a stroke. She discovers their crime and has a further stroke rendering her incapable of speech and movement except for her eyes which stare at them constantly. During an evening's game of dominoes with friends (an attempt to keep up a facade of normality) she manages to move her finger to trace a word on the table: "Thérèse and Laurent are ki..." (killers). At this point her strength gives out, and the words are interpreted as "Thérèse and Laurent are kind". Eventually, they find life together intolerable and plot to kill each other. Therese breaks down and admits that she was about to kill Laurent with a table knife, and he admits that he has bought poison. They embrace passionately one last time and both take poison and fall to the floor in a liebestod scene.
- "The corpses lay all night, spread out contorted, on the dining-room floor, lit up by the yellow gleams from the lamp, which the shade cast upon them. And for nearly twelve hours, in fact until the following day at about noon, Madame Raquin, rigid and mute, contemplated them at her feet, overwhelming them with her heavy gaze, and unable to sufficiently gorge her eyes with the hideous sight."
Major themes
Punishment/Imprisonment
Through out the book there are constant references to chains, cages, tombs, and pits. These motifs contribute to the fact that Laurent and Therese are always in a state of remorse and they are plagued by their guilt for killing Camille. The book mentions how Therese and Laurent are always clawing at the chains that bound them together trying to break free. Also, the store that Therese owns is compared to a tomb, where Therese watches the corpses walk by in the day, and she feels that she will never leave her tomb.
Temperaments
In his preface to the second edition, Zola writes that he intended to "study temperaments and not characters." To his main characters, he assigns various humors according to Galen's Four Temperaments: Thérèse is choleric, Laurent is sanguine, and Camille is phlegmatic. For Zola, the interactions of these types of personalities could only have the result that plays out in his plot.
Human beast
Also in his preface, Zola calls both Thérèse and Laurent "human brutes," and the characters are often given animalistic tendencies. Zola would take up this idea again in his La Bête humaine of 1890.
Mechanical man
Similar to the human beast who acts based on instinct, the mechanical man acts like an "unthinking machine."
Characters in "Thérèse Raquin"
- Thérèse Raquin - the eponymous heroine, she is the orphaned daughter of Madame Raquin's brother and an unknown African woman
- Camille Raquin - Thérèse's husband and first cousin.
- Madame Raquin - Camille's mother and Thérèse's aunt. She works as a shopkeeper to support her family.
- Laurent - a childhood friend and coworker of Camille who seduces Therese
- Michaud - the police commissioner and friend of Madame Raquin
- Olivier - Michaud's son who works at the police prefecture
- Suzanne - Olivier's wife
- Grivet - an elderly employee of the Orléans Railroad Company, where Camille works
- François - the Raquins' cat
Literary significance and reception
Thérèse Raquin is generally considered to be Zola's first major work.
Upon its release in 1867, Thérèse Raquin was a commercial and artistic success for Zola; enough so that it was reprinted in book form in 1868. It gained additional publicity when critic Louis Ulbach (pen name: Ferragus) called Thérèse Raquin "putrid" in a long diatribe (Ferragus. "La littérature putride." Le Figaro. 23 January 1868), upon which Zola capitalized for publicity and to which he referred in his preface to the second edition.
Film, TV, radio or theatrical adaptations
Zola adapted the novel into a play which was first staged in 1873. The play did not receive its London première until 1891, under the auspices of the Independent Theatre Society—as the Lord Chamberlain's Office refused to licence the play.
Recent stage productions include:
- 2006 for the Royal National Theatre, London, adaptation written by Nicholas Wright.
- 2007 production of the Nicholas Wright adaptation by Quantum Theatre in Pittsburgh, PA. Staged in the empty swimming pool of the Carnegie Library in Braddock, PA.
- 2008 production at Riverside Studios, London, adaptation by Pauline McLynn.
- 2009 production at Edinburgh Fringe Festival performed by pupils of The Cheltenham Ladies' College (adapted by Fiona Ross)
The novel was made into several films, including:
- A 1915 silent film adaptation, which was made in Italy. It was directed by Nino Martoglio.
- A 1928 German silent film
- A 1950 BBC adaptation starring Sonia Dresdel as Thérèse.
- A 1953 French adaptation with Simone Signoret.
- A 1956 German made-for-TV movie adaptation.
- A 1965 Swedish made-for-TV movie adaptation.
- A 1966 German made-for-TV movie adaptation.
- A 1977 Mexican TV series adaptation.
- A 1979 Belgian made-for-TV movie adaptation.
- A 1980 BBC serial adaptation starring Kate Nelligan as Thérèse and Alan Rickman.
- A 1985 Italian mini-series adaptation.
- A 1998 BBC Radio 4 radio adaptation starring Anna Massey as Thérèse.
- A 2009 BBC Radio 4 A "Classic Serial" adaptation in two parts starring Charlotte Riley as Thérèse and Andrew Buchan as Laurent.
- The 2009 Korean horror film Thirst borrowed a number of plot elements from Thérèse Raquin.
An opera based on the novel has been written by the composer Michael Finnissy. Another opera Thérèse Raquin by Tobias Picker opened in 2000.
The novel was also made into a Broadway musical entitled Thou Shalt Not, with music composition by Harry Connick, Jr..
The novel (rewritten in the style of James M. Cain) was the basis of the play "The Artificial Jungle" by Charles Ludlam.
Neal Bell adapted the novel into a play under the same title. The following represents a short production history of Bell's play. It was first produced at New York University by Playwrights Horizons Theatre School on December 3, 1991, directed by Edward Elefterion, with Katie Bainbridge as the title role. Its first professional production was at the Williamstown Theatre Festival on June 30, 1993, directed by Michael Greif, with Lynn Hawley as Thérèse. On July 10, 1994, Michael Greif, in conjunction with La Jolla Playhouse in California, put up the West Coast premiere with Paul Giamatti in the role of Camille. Its professional New York premiere was on October 27, 1997, at the Classic Stage Company, directed by David Esbjornson, with Elizabeth Marvel as Thérèse Raquin.
