Thérèse Raquin

novel by Zola

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Article History

Thérèse Raquin, novel by Émile Zola, first published serially as Un Mariage d’amour in 1867 and published in book form with the present title in the same year. Believing that an author must simply establish his characters in their particular environment and then observe and record their actions as if conducting an experiment, Zola nonetheless adopted a highly moral, unscientific tone in this grisly novel, the first to put his “analytical method” into practice.

The sensual Thérèse and her lover Laurent murder her weak husband Camille. After marrying, they are haunted by Camille’s ghost, and their passion for each other turns to hatred. They eventually kill themselves. Conservative readers accused Zola of prurience; the novel, however, illustrates the author’s belief that sexual pleasure leads only to brutality and destruction.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.