Emile Zola's novel Le Rêve (1888) is a love idyll concerning a poor embroideress, Angelique, and the son of a wealthy aristocratic family, set against the backdrop of a sleepy cathedral town in northern France. A far cry from the seething, teeming world evoked in Zola's best-known novels, it may at first seem a strange interlude between La Terre and La Bête humaine in the twenty-volume sequence known as the Rougon-Macquart Novels. However, belying its appearance as a simple fairy-tale, the work reveals many of Zola's characteristic themes, in particular the conflict between heredity and environment, between spirituality and sensuality between the powerful and the powerless. The dream of Angelique is at once reality and illusion, and this interplay provides the driving force of the novel. Above all, the novel is, as Zola himself described it, 'a poem of passion', displaying the lyrical dimension of his genius.

Emile Zola's novel Le Reve (1888) is a love idyll concerning a poor embroideress, Angelique, and the son of a wealthy aristocratic family, set against the backdrop of a sleepy cathedral town in northern France.A far cry from the seething, teeming world evoked in Zola's best-known novels, it may at first seem a strange interlude between La Terre and La Bte humaine in the twenty-volume sequence known as the Rougon-Macquart Novels.However, belying its appearance as a simple fairy-tale, the work reveals many of Zola's characteristic themes, in particular the conflict between heredity and environment, between spirituality and sensuality between the powerful and the powerless. The dream of Angelique is at once reality and illusion, and this interplay provides the driving force of the novel. Above all, the novel is, as Zola himself described it, 'a poem of passion', displaying the lyrical dimension of his genius.

Reproduction of the original.

Emile Zola's novel Le Rêve (1888) is a love idyll concerning a poor embroideress, Angelique, and the son of a wealthy aristocratic family, set against the backdrop of a sleepy cathedral town in northern France.A far cry from the seething, teeming world evoked in Zola's best-known novels, it may at first seem a strange interlude between La Terre and La Bête humaine in the twenty-volume sequence known as the Rougon-Macquart Novels.However, belying its appearance as a simple fairy-tale, the work reveals many of Zola's characteristic themes, in particular the conflict between heredity and environment, between spirituality and sensuality between the powerful and the powerless. The dream of Angelique is at once reality and illusion, and this interplay provides the driving force of the novel. Above all, the novel is, as Zola himself described it, 'a poem of passion', displaying the lyrical dimension of his genius.

The Dream (Le Reve) By Emile Zola Translated by Eliza E. Chase Le reve (The Dream) is the sixteenth novel in the Rougon-Macquart series by Emile Zola. It is about an orphan girl who falls in love with a nobleman, and is set in the years 1860-1869. The novel was published by Charpentier in October 1888 and translated into English by Eliza E. Chase as The Dream in 1893 (reprinted in 2005). Other recent translations are by Michael Glencross (Peter Owen 2005) and Andrew Brown (Hesperus Press 2005). Le reve is a simple tale of the orphan Angelique Marie (b. 1851), adopted by a couple of embroiderers, the Huberts, whose marriage is blighted by a childlessness which they attribute to a curse uttered by Mme Hubert's mother on her deathbed. Angelique is enthralled by the tales of the saints and martyrs - particularly Saint Agnes and Saint George - as told in the Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine. Her dream is to be saved by a handsome prince and to live happily ever after, in the same way the virgin martyrs have their faiths tested on earth before being rescued and married to Jesus in heaven. Her dream is realized when she falls in love with Felicien d'Hautecoeur, the last in an old family of knights, heroes, and nobles in the service of Christ and of France. His father, the present Monseigneur, objects to their marrying for reasons of his own. (Before entering the Church he had married for love a woman much younger than himself; when she died giving birth to Felicien, he sent the child away and took holy orders.) Angelique falls ill and pines away. Won over by her virtue and innocence, the Monseigneur finally relents and the lovers are married; but Angelique dies on the steps of the cathedral as she kisses her husband for the first time. Her death, however, is a happy one: her innocence has freed the Huberts and the Monseigneur from their curses.

Is it wrong to love whatever is beautiful and rich? I love it precisely because it is beautiful, because it is rich - because, I think, it brings joy to my heart. . . On Christmas day, in the flurry of a snow storm, the Huberts discover a ragged nine year old girl sheltering under the neighbouring cathedral porch. Childless and pious, the couple take in and raise Angelique as their own. The girl is intensely passionate, and given to rage and disobedience as well as love and religious fervour. Inspired by The Golden Legend, Angelique creates a dream world all of her own, peopled with spirits. As part of her dream vision, she becomes convinced she will marry a rich and handsome young prince. Her wish seemingly comes true when she falls in love with a lord's son... The sixteenth novel in the Rougon-Macquart series, The Dream marks a departure by Zola from the conventions of realism. Here, Zola explores the persistence of mysticism, but also blends elements of fairy tale with the naturalist techniques for which he had become known. This edition contains a wide-ranging introduction placing Zola's changing concerns in the context of his wider work, and illuminates key themes in the novel, such as architecture, heraldry, and the lives of the saints.