The Beast Within - Emile Zola [230]
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.
4 a bloodstained fingerprint: This is the closest the novel comes to any sort of forensic consideration. Given the novel’s subject matter and Zola’s declared interest in scientific methods, this appears surprising.
CHAPTER IV
1 the examining magistrate: The examining magistrate (juge d‘instruction) was (and still is) responsible for a preliminary investigation into a crime. In current Anglo-American procedure, such an investigation would be carried out by the police. In France in the nineteenth century, investigation was passed on to the judiciary at an early stage of a criminal inquiry. The examining magistrate’s investigation was conducted in private. If there was insufficient evidence, the case would be dismissed. If the examining magistrate felt that there was a