I've been reading this subreddit for a few month now, i really feel for you guys. I didnt know what i could do to show my support so here i am sharing my favorite speech. To think its going to be 15 years old less than a month from now.
Hope you enjoy it.
https://youtu.be/lnEYg6ordJc
I could not find subtitles for the video so i tried to get a decent translation. If you have any suggestions to improve it, id love to edit and get as close as i can to the original.
"Those who took the whole dish on their plate, leaving the others' plates empty. And having everything, say with a good face, a good conscience: we, who have everything, are for peace. You know what I have to shout to them? You are the first to be violent, the ones who trigger off all violence! And when in the evening, in your beautiful houses, you go to kiss your grandchildren with your good conscience. In the eyes of God, you probably have more blood on your unconscious hands than the desperate man who has taken up arms to try to escape his despair."
We start The Sin of Abbé Mouret next month. I'm excited. Looks like an interesting novel. It features the story of a priest, Serge Mouret from The Conquest of Plassans, and his struggles with sexuality and sexual desire.
So far this series I've been able to post discussion prompts for each chapter. It doesn't look like I'll be able to do that with this novel, however, as there are fifty chapters in The Sin of Abbé Mouret. If I did one discussion prompt per chapter it would exceed the month we've given ourselves to read each novel. So what I'm going to do, if it works for you, is prepare three discussion prompts. I think this will work because the novel is divided into three parts. I will post one on each weekend of September.
Does this work for everyone?
Finally, I just want to say how much I'm enjoying reading all your thoughts. Even though this group is small it means a lot to me. Thanks for joining me. I've wanted to read this series for a bit now and I'm happy and honored to be doing so with such wonderful people.
Impressions: Man, for those of us that thought perhaps Zola might have made a turn towards happy endings in this series with The Ladies' Paradise, we were sadly proven incorrect. Heartbreaker, this one. Poor Albine. All, I can say is, with romantic love and also, if you read it a certain way, religious spirituality also dead, then maybe Jeanbernat is right and it's all "nothing, nothing, nothing."
Discussion Prompts
- What did you think of Part Three?
- What did you think of the novel?
- Did you think Serge and Albine would end up together? If so, why? If not, why not?
Impressions: Dr. Pascal, in an effort to treat his nephew's sickness, deposits him with Jeanbernat, the vociferous atheist and his wild daughter Albine, a young woman untutored in religion and, really, anything else. So, you know, perfect sport for a priest to convalesce. What follows is a sharp deviation from Part One. Whereas Part One is concerned with the cold dead stone of the church and religion, this part teems with vibrant life of nature. The natural world here assumes a sentient nature. Passages rival The Dream in terms of their revolt against realism. Here is a more expressive or impressionistic prose than we're accustomed to in Zola. I really liked it.
Discussion Prompts
- What did you think of Part Two?
- What did you think of Zola's decision to refer to our main character as Serge in this chapter rather than Abbé Mouret as he did in Part One?
- What did you think of the sex scene? Too much to introduced the biblical symbolism? I don't think so. Worked for me.
Initial Impressions: What most strongly emerges from Part One is the stark thematic distinction Zola draws between the religious and the natural life. We see religion represented by Abbé Mouret and his church. Abbé Mouret has an almost, or maybe just a straight up pathological opposition to nature. He becomes ill when surrounded by the fecundity of his sister's animals. We learn that he dreams of being a desert hermit, the desert, of course, being the natural habitat most devoid of life. Then there is his church: a decaying, impoverished parish with no flourishes. All cold stone. This is the religious, or mystical portion of the novel so far. We can sum up Abbé Mouret's feeling towards nature with these lines: "Nature offered him nothing but snares and filth; he took special pride in doing violence to her, and freeing himself from the mud of his humanity."
Contrast it with the passages detailing nature. These are lively and fecund and colorful. They are full of visual, sensory and olfactory wonder. Our first glimpse of nature's beauty occurs in the the opening chapter as nature intrudes in the church. Désirée brings some of it in with her. Then there's Albine who is introduced in a wonderful passage that absolutely teems with an explosion of nature. Oddly, however, Mary, whom Abbé Mouret devotes a considerable amount of adoration towards, is closely associated with nature here. In the end, it's all too much for poor Abbé Mouret and he passes out.
Discussion Prompts
- What do you make of the nature v. religion theme? Did you pick up on it? If so, where? I found a Son v. Sun theme too.
- At what point does religious devotion become a form of psychosis? Abbé Mouret seems a bit unstable, doesn't he? Will The Sin of Abbé Mouret be another anti-clerical piece from Zola?
- What's going on with Abbé Mouret? Do you think he'll be ok?
- This guy Brother Archangias. Already one of Zola's most unpleasant characters, no?
