By now all the telegraph bells along the line were ringing, and hearts missed a beat as news came through of a ghost train that had been seen passing through Rouen and Sotteville at high speed. People shook with fear; there was an express on the line ahead, and there would surely be a collision. The train, like a wild boar running through a forest, continued on its headlong flight, heedless of signals at red and detonators. At Oissel it almost collided with a light engine. At Pont-de-l’Arche, people watched it go by in sheer terror; it showed no sign of slowing down. Once again it disappeared from view, on and on into the darkness of the night, whither no one knew.
What did it matter if a few people were killed as it went on its way? Was it not travelling towards the future? Why worry over a little spilled blood? The train ran on without a driver, on and on, like some mindless, unseeing beast, let loose on a field of carnage, with its burden of cannon-fodder, the soldiers, dead with fatigue, drunk and singing at the top of their voices.
Notes
CHAPTER I
1
Quartier de l‘Europe:
A district in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, so called because the streets are named after major European cities. Many of them are mentioned in the novel. The station, which, curiously, is never named, is the Gare Saint-Lazare, the Paris terminus of the Compagnie des Chemins de Fer de l’Ouest, which operated trains to northern Brittany and Normandy. 2.
foot-warmer depot:
In the early days of rail travel (the action of the novel takes place between 1869 and 1870), carriages were not heated. For a small charge, the railway companies provided foot-warmers — flat, metal containers filled with hot water or, later, with a solution of soda acetate. Passengers were also advised to bring travelling rugs to protect themselves against the cold. It was not until the 1890s that carriages were regularly heated by hot water supplied from the locomotive.
3
Pont de l‘Europe:
A huge iron bridge, designed by Adolphe Jullien (1803-79), built (in 1867) over the railway lines at the mouth of the Gare Saint-Lazare. The bridge formed a meeting point for six streets and, viewed from above (as here), was indeed star-shaped. There are famous paintings of this bridge by Gustave Caillebotte (1848-94).
4
a vivid splash of colour in the pale afternoon light:
The opening description of the station, with its emphasis on modern structures of glass and steel, the effect of hazy sunlight and the vivid red of the signal, calls to mind paintings of the Gare Saint-Lazare made in 1877 by Claude Monet (1840 — 1926). Zola had promoted the work of Impressionist painters and acknowledged that his own descriptive techniques owed much to them.
5
cylinder taps:
An example of the sort of technical detail that Zola had researched and was determined to include in his novel. The cylinder taps, when opened, allowed steam to be passed at high pressure through the cylinders in order to expel water condensation and other chemical deposits which collected in them when the locomotive was stationary. The effect could be quite dramatic!
6
the clatter of turntables:
In the early days of railway construction, turntables (or ‘turnplates’ as they were first called) were situated on the arrival tracks of mainline stations to enable wagons and carriages to be shunted around the station or into adjoining sidings. By the 1870s they had begun to disappear. In his preparatory notes for the description of the station, Zola records the distinctive sound made by the turntables as trains ran over them.
7
six thousand francs:
Zola is determined to give his novel a sense of contemporary realism and he is specific about money throughout. The figures he mentions would have made the Dauvergnes a comfortably placed family, in receipt of two full-time salaries and housing and heating concessions too (see A Note on Money).
8
Sub-Prefect:
Prefects and sub-prefects were responsible for the local administration of a
département
. They were appointed directly by the Emperor and wielded great authority. One of their most important functions was to control elections and ensure the return of government-nominated candidates (see note 13 below).
9
and then it was back to the grind!:
This conversation between Roubaud and Henri Dauvergne exemplifies the way in which Zola handles spoken exchanges throughout the novel, with a mixture of direct speech, indirect speech and free indirect speech.
10
Plassans:
Zola’s fictional name for Aix-en-Provence, where he had spent most of his childhood and youth (1843 — 58). Plassans is the town in which the Rougon-Macquarts have their roots. Adélaïde Fouque, the ancestress of both branches of the family, is described in
La Fortune des Rougon
(chapter 2) as being born there in 1768. The town is referred to repeatedly throughout the novel cycle.
11
President Grandmorin:
‘President’ is a title designating a High Court judge, a title which Grandmorin retains, despite having officially retired, and which marks him out as a man of considerable means and influence.
12
the Bon Marché
: A large department store in Paris, founded in 1852 by Aristide Boucicaut (1810 — 77). The life and intrigues of a Paris department store are portrayed in an earlier novel in the series,
Au Bonheur des Dames
(translated as
The Ladies’ Delight
by Robin Buss, Penguin Classics, 2001).
13
the forthcoming general elections:
These were not the sort of open, democratic elections that the present-day reader might be familiar with. Zola refers to elections to the lower house of the Legislative Assembly (L’Assemblée legislative). The Legislative Assembly was charged with converting national policy into law but it was given only limited powers. Laws were formulated by the upper house, which was appointed by the Emperor himself and which met in secret. Members of the lower house, which could ratify or reject but not initiate or amend legislation, were elected by male suffrage. These elections were carefully managed. Certain candidates were nominated by the government and designated as ‘official’ candidates. It was the responsibility of the prefects of the various
départements
of France (who were again appointed directly by the Emperor) to ensure that these ‘official’ candidates were elected. This was achieved by tight control of election publicity and propaganda, with the result that very few opposition candidates were elected to the Assembly during the whole period of the Second Empire. By 1869 opposition to such a ‘closed’ form of government had gained considerable momentum, and the government was threatened with the possibility of an election deafeat.
14
local government councillor:
The local council (Conseil Général) was responsible for the administration of local regions within a
département
, in this instance Rouen and the surrounding district. It was an elected body but was answerable directly to the Prefect.
15
which was twice as much as he was earning as an assistant stationmaster at Le Havre:
In other words Roubaud earns about 2,000 francs a year (see A Note on Money).
16
what if it turned out he was your father?:
This is the third time that the possibility of Séverine being Grandmorin’s daughter has been mentioned in this chapter. It appears to be a particular obsession of Roubaud’s and is clearly a sensitive issue with Séverine. Zola leaves the suspicion unconfirmed, but by insisting on it he allows the possibility to take root in the reader’s mind.
17
the screws properly tightened:
The ‘screw’ reduced the slack in the coupling which linked the carriages together, improving the cohesion and stability of the train. Zola had evidently observed the operation carefully.
18
coupé compartment:
An end compartment in a railway carriage with seating on one side only.
CHAPTER II
1
La Croix-de-Maufras:
A fictional name with a sinister ring to it (
mau
in French suggests ‘evil’).
2
as silent and empty as the grave:
Zola had made a careful study of the topography of the region between Barentin and Malaunay. This and subsequent descriptions combine precisely recorded features of landscape with a desire to create a sombre setting for the dark happenings which occur here.
3
Phasie:
A child’s diminutive for Euphrasie. The name acts as a reminder of Jacques’s childhood innocence.
4
a Lantier:
Jacques comes as a late addition to the Rougon-Macquart genealogical tree, which Zola had originally devised in 1878. There is no mention of him in the earlier novels describing the fortunes of his parents and his two brothers (
La Fortune des Rougon, L‘Assommoir
,
Germinal
and
L’Œuvre
).
5
Paris-Orléans company:
The company was founded in 1838 and operated trains to southern Brittany and parts of central France.
6
La Lison:
This is the locomotive mentioned in the previous chapter. It is explained later in the novel (chapter V) that locomotives were named after towns served by the railway. Lison is a town in the Cotentin region of Normandy between Caen and Cherbourg.
7
section box:
The ‘block system’ began to be introduced as early as the 1840s. It provided a means of maintaining a safe distance between trains which followed each other on the same track. A line was divided into ‘sections’, and a block telegraph circuit was set up for each section. A system of telegraphic bell codes was used to ensure that trains only passed from one section to another when the line was clear. Zola describes the procedure and the telegraphic equipment in comprehensive detail.
8
she couldn’t bring herself to repeat it:
The death of Louisette is mentioned several times throughout the novel. Exactly what happened is never made clear. It remains an unexplained mystery in the novel’s catalogue of crime (see Introduction).
9
hardy inner life:
Zola uses a horticultural term (‘vivace’ in French) to refer to the communities that are invaded by the mechanized progress of the railways. Horticultural imagery occurs throughout the novel (see below, chapter VI, note I).
10
he often thought that he must have inherited this family flaw himself:
Jacques’s mother, Gervaise Lantier (née Macquart), is abandoned by her husband, Auguste Lantier, soon after the family arrives in Paris. She is eventually driven to drink and dies destitute (
L‘Assommoir
). Jacques’s elder brother, Claude, becomes a painter, obsessed with radical new theories about art (
L’Œuvre
). His younger brother, Étienne, becomes a mine worker and leads a miners’ strike (
Germinal
). The influence of heredity is a recurring preoccupation throughout the cycle of Rougon-Macquart novels (see Introduction).
11
in the dark recesses of some primeval cave:
This idea is derived from Zola’s reading of Cesare Lombroso’s (1835 — 1909)
L‘Homme criminel
(
The Criminal
Man, original Italian title
L’Uomo delinquente,
1876): ‘The most barbaric crimes have a physiological, atavistic origin, deriving from animal instincts, which thanks to upbringing, social milieu or the fear of punishment may lie dormant, but which will suddenly flare up under the influence of illness, meteorites, or spermatic intoxication caused by a protracted period of sexual abstinence’ (C. Lombroso,
L’Homme criminel. Criminel-né. Fou moral. Épileptique. Étude anthropologique et medico-légal
, translated by Régnier and Bournet (Paris: Alcan, 1887), p. 665).
12
his fellow drivers, in the class two and class three grades:
These details are based on information which Zola obtained from Pol Lefèvre (see Introduction). Some employees were initially taken on as apprentice fitters or cleaners, for example, and trained as drivers by the railway company itself. Others (like Jacques) had received further education and technical training before joining the Company and could aspire to positions of greater responsibility. Although Jacques is one of the Company’s top drivers and is well paid, it might have seemed odd to his colleagues that he was happy to remain as a driver.
13
his train wasn’t due to leave for Le Havre until seven twenty:
A minor discrepancy. Earlier Zola had given the time as seven twenty-six.
CHAPTER III
1
the station buildings were dull and dreary
,
with cracks everywhere:
The first railway line to Le Havre (from Rouen) was opened in 1843. Through trains from Paris to Le Havre began operating in 1847. It would appear that some of the station buildings described here date from the earliest years of Le Havre’s railway history. The station was rebuilt in 1884. Zola visited it in 1889 and spoke to the stationmaster and to an employee of long standing, who were able to give him precise information about the station as it was in 1869. The dilapidated state of the buildings contrasts sharply with the impressive modernization of the Gare Saint-Lazare. Eugène Flachat’s huge train sheds at the Gare Saint-Lazare date from 1851.
2
the safety officer:
Railway safety officers had been appointed as early as the 1840s, when the dangers of railway operation were becoming increasingly apparent. They were responsible for overseeing the safety of the travelling public and of employees. They were appointed, not by the railway company, but by the Ministry of Public Works (Ministère des Travaux Publics). They had a quasi-police title (
commissaire
) and were given powers of arrest. They wore a uniform. On his visit to Le Havre, Zola made a note of the safety officer’s ‘black cap with four silver braids’.
3
piquet:
A card-game played by two persons with a pack of thirty-two cards, the low cards from the two to the six being excluded.