Thérèse Raquin - Classics and Contemporaries, Emile Zola, Sylvie Howlett

"Thérèse and Laurent are human brutes." By so harshly introducing his heroes, Zola highlights the violence of passions and the animality of men, while foreshadowing one of his most famous novels: "La Bête humaine" (The Human Beast). Adultery, conspiracy, murder, and remorse echo each other from one novel to the next, while the narrator uncovers lies and fate. "Thérèse Raquin" imperceptibly shifts from sociological study to fantasy and tragedy.

The afterword suggests various steps that allow for a deeper study of a literary movement, naturalism, and focuses on clarifying and implementing forms of discourse and narration, argumentation and staging, relying on proposals for written productions (inventive, argumentative, or functional) and oral ones—without forgetting all the resources of audiovisual media and the Internet.