Une palette intentionnelle et significative : le symbolisme des couleurs dans quelques romans zoliens

An intentional and significant palette : colour symbolism in some of Emile Zola’s novels In naturalist novels, aiming to depict the reality as faithfully as possible, colours are particularly important, and need to be carefully selected. An attentive reader of Zola’s Rougon-Macquart series might notice a very special use of colours that are often charged with an important symbolic value: being not only an ornament or a detail, they frequently influence and/or express the characters’ features. The proposed classification shows some most relevant examples of Zola’s conception of colours in selected parts of the series.