The Beast Within - Emile Zola [229]
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