Knocking on Heaven's Door: Faith, Ecstasy, and Crossing Over in Zola's Le Rêve ( The Dream )

Abstract

Abstract: When Angélique, the protagonist of Émile Zola's Le Rêve (1888), expires at the cathedral entrance just moments after her wedding, the novel's central theme comes to fruition: spiritual fulfillment cannot be expressed in physical terms. Angélique's fiery and unstable Rougon-Macquart heredity is mitigated through the care and religious education provided by her adoptive parents, the Huberts, but also through the practical trade of embroidery that provides a physical and emotional outlet. Her tactile relationship with the world is both sensual and spiritual, manifesting in a religious fervor similar to that of Bernini's controversial rendering of St. Teresa in her moment of ecstasy. Both of these works were critiqued for their vulgarity in the expressions of physicality and jouissance inspired by faith; this essay argues that these critiques deny female expression because spiritual transcendence is presented in a physical form.