Ilse’s Reviews > Nana > Status Update
Ilse
is on page 320 of 530
Le prodige fut que cette grosse fille jouait à la ville des rôles de charmeuse, sans un effort. C'étaient des souplesses de couleuvre, un déshabillé savant, comme involontaire, exquis d'élégance, une distinction nerveuse de chatte de race, une aristocratie du vice, superbe, révoltée, mettant le pied sur Paris, en maîtresse toute-puissante. Elle donnait le ton, de grandes dames l'imitaient.
— Oct 11, 2025 04:58AM
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Ilse’s Previous Updates
Ilse
is on page 281 of 530
Nana avait toujours tremblé devant la loi, cette puissance inconnue, cette vengeance des hommes qui pouvaient la supprimer, sans que personne au monde la défendit.
— Oct 10, 2025 07:17AM
Ilse
is on page 280 of 530
Elle guettait les mieux mis, elle voyait ça à leurs yeux pâles. C'était comme un coup de folie charnelle passant sur la ville. Elle avait un peu peur, car les plus comme il faut étaient les plus sales. Tout le vernis craquait, la bête se montrait, exigeante dans ses goûts monstrueux, raffinant sa perversion.
— Oct 06, 2025 06:55AM
Ilse
is on page 162 of 530
Tout son être se révoltait, la lente possession dont Nana l'envahissait l'effrayait, en lui rappelant ses lectures de piété, les possessions diaboliques qui avaient bercé son enfance. Il croyait au diable. Nana, confusément était le diable, avec ses rires, avec sa gorge et sa croupe, gonflés de vice.
— Oct 04, 2025 03:33AM
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Jan-Maat
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Oct 11, 2025 05:14AM
What a fantastic pile up of words, it is not a very positive of womanhood in 2nd empire Paris is it!
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Excellente prose!You visited the Niki de Saint Phalle exhibition and her Nanas in Aix and I am also reminded of Botero's sculptures!
Jan-Maat wrote: "What a fantastic pile up of words, it is not a very positive of womanhood in 2nd empire Paris is it!"This novel seems to be steeped in a deep fear of the sexual power of women, Zola presents the protagaonist as a fierce, greedy and sly beast devouring men like chocolate bonbons (the archetype of the femme fatale?) - but what a great verbal evocation of decadent opulence :)!
It seems that "couleuvre" is a recurring word applied to women in Zola's novels. It was one of Coupeau's phrases when he was angry against 15 year old Nana in L'Assommoir when she was very "unruly".I am now reading Nana - chapter 1.
Claudia wrote: "Excellente prose!You visited the Niki de Saint Phalle exhibition and her Nanas in Aix and I am also reminded of Botero's sculptures!"
Botero's sculptures of women are a great connection, thank you, Claudia! The momumental nudes, like this one, are magnetically powerful, like Zola's Nana (because of the colours, Niki de Saint Phalle's Nana's seem rather cheerful than threatening...)
Ilse wrote: "Jan-Maat wrote: "What a fantastic pile up of words, it is not a very positive of womanhood in 2nd empire Paris is it!"This novel seems to be steeped in a deep fear of the sexual power of women, Zo..."
Perhaps that is to be expected from a novel about a temporarily successful prostitute? It is not something that I recall from Germinal, there as far as I remember sex is coupled with a sense of liberation- although somewhat ironically since for the miners this can result in children which means the mother can not work in the mine and somebody else needs to be fed so the household is furtherr tied to the mine and poverty.
Claudia wrote: "It seems that "couleuvre" is a recurring word applied to women in Zola's novels. It was one of Coupeau's phrases when he was angry against 15 year old Nana in L'Assommoir ."How fascinating, Claudia, thank you - I cannot remember having come across the word before, and you make clear it would be better not to spread out reading the instalments at a pace of one a year but rather in the way you seem reading them now, with not much time in between each part. I am curious about your thoughts on Nana, and if reading L'assommoir first in a way clarifies her behaviour....
Ilse wrote: "Claudia wrote: "It seems that "couleuvre" is a recurring word applied to women in Zola's novels. It was one of Coupeau's phrases when he was angry against 15 year old Nana in [book:L'Assommoir|7552..."You are welcome, Ilse! In fact, I am binge reading Zola - I did the same with Thomas Hardy two or three years ago, and subsequently with Dickens.
Nana is at first a perfect contrast with L'Assommoir. But the "souper" in chapter 4 reminds me strongly of a premonitory painting at le Louvre, mentioned in L'Assommoir, "La Kermesse" by Rubens, and a feast dinner at Gervaise's (Nana and other kids were there too), just like Nana's souper, albeit less sophisticated, a real grande bouffe! The guests are belonging to very different social classes but their behaviour is not so different.
I hope I have not betrayed too much!
