A Zola Dictionary Part 19

JEZEUR (MADAME), a neighbour of the Josserands in the Rue de Choiseul.

Her husband had left her after ten days of married life, and thenceforth she lived alone in quiet lodgings. Very little was known of her circ.u.mstances or mode of life. Pot-Bouille.

K

KAHN (M.), son of a Jewish banker at Bordeaux; a deputy who was engaged in a scheme for the construction of a railway from Niort to Angers. He was chiefly anxious for this, as the proposed line would pa.s.s through Bressure, where he had some blast-furnaces, the value of which it would considerably increase. Rougon supported him energetically, and had almost secured the grant when his retirement from office delayed the scheme for some years. Soon after Rougon's appointment as Minister of the Interior the grant was obtained, and he accompanied Kahn to Niort to attend the inauguration of the scheme. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.

KAHN (MADAME), wife of the preceding. She lived a very retired life at Paris. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.

KELLER (LES), well-known leaders of society in Paris. It was at their house that Baroness Sandorff first met Gundermann. L'Argent.

KOLB (M.), a banker whose business consisted to a large extent in gold arbitrage, buying foreign coins, and melting them into gold bars. He was a man of Jewish origin, and having heard that Daigremont was to be connected with the Universal Bank, he readily agreed to become a director. Being a cautious man, however, he sold all his shares before the final collapse. L'Argent.

L

LABORDETTE, a young man who was well known in racing circles, and was specially popular with women, as he was always ready to render them little services. Through his relations with the world of trainers and jockeys he had always the latest information as to races. He made himself very useful to Nana when she was setting up a stable of her own, and a.s.sisted her in the selection of servants. Nana.

LACAILLE, a customer of Madame Francois, the market gardener. He attended the Revolutionary meetings in Lebrigre's cafe. Le Ventre de Paris.

LACAMP. See Puech and Lacamp.

LACa.s.sAGNE, a dealer in feathers and artificial flowers, whose business was ruined by the compet.i.tion of Octave Mouret's establishment. Au Bonheur des Dames.

LACHESNAYE (DE), judge at the Rouen Court of appeal, was the husband of Berthe Grandmorin, whom he somewhat resembled in character. He was a little man, dry and yellow, who had been a judge at the Court of Appeal from the age of thirty-six; he had been decorated, thanks to the influence of his father-in-law, and to the services which his father had rendered on the High Commissions at the time of the _Coup d'Etat_. He was disliked by Denizet, the examining magistrate, in whose eyes he represented the cla.s.s of judicial functionary who attained position by wealth and influence. Lachesnaye was incensed at the will of his father-in-law, Grandmorin, who left fully half of his fortune to women of all cla.s.ses, most of them unknown to his family. La Bete Humaine.

LACHESNAYE (MADAME DE), wife of the preceding. See Berthe Grandmorin. La Bete Humaine.

LACOUR (ZEPHYRIN), a young lad from the same village as Rosalie, whose sweetheart he was. He was drawn in the conscription and sent to Paris, where, by permission of Madame Grandjean, he came to see Rosalie, her maid, every Sunday. He was a good-hearted lad, whose ambition was to get out of the army, marry Rosalie, and return to his native village. Une Page d'Amour.

LADICOURT (BARONNE DE), a lady who lived at Vouziers. Captain Beaudoin lunched at her house on 26th August, 1870, at the hour when the Seventh Army Corps was taking up its position for battle. La Debacle.

LADRICOURT (COMTE DE), father of the Baroness Sandorff. He was a confirmed gambler, and a man of brutal manners. He died of apoplexy, completely ruined, after a series of disgraceful failures. L'Argent.

LA FALOISE (HECTOR DE), a youth who came from the country to Paris in order to complete his education. Thanks to the death of an uncle, he was very rich, and his chief ambition was to be in everything ultra Parisian. He posed as a man who had experienced everything, and who no longer thought anything worthy of being taken seriously. Introduced behind the scenes of the Theatre des Varietes by his cousin Fauchery, he met Nana, who did him the honour of ruining him without much loss of time. When his money was done, he returned to the country in the hope of marrying a distant relation who was both ugly and pious. Nana.

LAFOUa.s.sE, a tavern-keeper in the neighbourhood of Pla.s.sans, between the old demesne of Paradou and the village of Artaud. He was treated by Dr. Pascal Rougon for ataxy, but died after a hypodermic injection of a serum with which the doctor was experimenting. Le Docteur Pascal.

LAGARDE (EDMOND), a sergeant in the 6th Regiment of the line. At the most his age was twenty-three, but he did not appear more than eighteen.

He took part in the battle of Sedan, and was wounded in the left arm, which was broken by a bullet. His father, who was a shopkeeper in Paris, was a customer of Delaherche, and he was removed to the house of the manufacturer, where he was treated as one of the family. A handsome lad, he aroused the pity of Gilberte Delaherche, whose lover he became. La Debacle.

LAGRIFOUL (MARQUIS DE), the Legitimist Deputy for Pla.s.sans. His election came as a severe blow to the Government, and to M. Pequeur des Saulaies, the sub-prefect of Pla.s.sans, who was held responsible for it. In reality, the election had been largely influenced by the clergy, combined with the old n.o.bility. It was to counteract this influence that the Government sent Abbe Faujas to Pla.s.sans. The Marquis being a man of poor abilities, whose public appearances were disappointing, his overthrow was rendered easier and more complete. La Conquete de Pla.s.sans.

LA JOLIE DAME, a customer at Octave Mouret's shop, _Au Bonheur des Dames_. She was a favourite with all the salesmen, and as no one knew her name she was always referred to as "The Pretty Lady." Au Bonheur des Dames.

LALUBIE, teacher of the sixth form at the college of Pla.s.sans. He found one day his room transformed into a _chapelle ardente_, thanks to his pupils led by Pouillard. After he recovered from his fright he set a heavy punishment for the whole cla.s.s. He married the daughter of Galissard, the haberdasher at Pla.s.sans. L'Oeuvre.

LAMBERTHIER, an a.s.sistant at the _Halles Centrales_. Josephine Dejoie was at one time cook in his house. L'Argent.

LAMBERTHON (M. DE), a Deputy who discussed with M. La Rouquette the wisdom of the Emperor conceding the privilege of presenting an address to the Crown. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.

LAMBOURDIEU, a shopkeeper at Cloyes, who sold Parisian novelties in all the villages within a radius of five or six miles. La Terre.

LANDOIS (AUGUSTE), a.s.sistant in Quenu's business. He came to Paris from Troyes to perfect himself in his trade, and having little money, intended to set up for himself as a pork-butcher. He was engaged to his cousin Augustine Landois, who was also employed by Quenu. He took a dislike to Florent, and wrote an anonymous letter denouncing him to the Prefect of Police. Le Ventre de Paris.

LANDOIS (AUGUSTINE) came to Quenu's establishment to learn shop management. She was engaged to her cousin Auguste Landois. Le Ventre de Paris.

LANGLADE (DE), Prefect of Deux-Sevres. He was accused of dissolute conduct, and was superseded in his office by Du Poizat. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon.

LANTIER (AUGUSTE), the lover of Gervaise Macquart; he accompanied her to Paris, when she left home with their two children. La Fortune des Rougon.

Soon after their arrival in Paris, he deserted Gervaise for a girl named Adele, with whom he lived for several years, during which he appears to have done little work. After Adele left him he renewed friends.h.i.+p with Gervaise and Coupeau, her husband, and induced them to take him into their home as a lodger. Once established there, he paid nothing for his support, and soon Gervaise was supporting him as well as her husband, who by this time was doing nothing. Gervaise, having become disgusted with her husband's intemperance, resumed her old relations with Lantier, and these continued till she was financially ruined, and her shop was taken over by Virginie Poisson. Lantier, having transferred his affections to Virginie, was allowed to retain his old position as lodger, and soon resumed his former tactics of paying no rent and living off his landlord. In course of time he succeeded in eating the Poissons'

stock of sweetmeats and bringing them to ruin, and then began to look out for some one else to support him. L'a.s.sommoir.

LANTIER (CLAUDE), son of Gervaise Macquart and Auguste Lantier, was born at Pla.s.sans in 1842. He was brought up by his paternal grandmother, but when she died, in 1850, he was taken to Paris by his parents. La Fortune des Rougon.

After Lantier's desertion of Gervaise, and her subsequent marriage to Coupeau, Claude continued to reside with his mother, but a few years later an old gentleman of Pla.s.sans, a lover of pictures, who had been greatly struck by some daubs done by the child, offered to pay for his education. The offer was accepted, and Claude returned to Pla.s.sans.

L'a.s.sommoir.

Some years later his benefactor died, leaving him an income of a thousand francs a year, enough to prevent him dying of hunger in the artistic career which he had decided to follow. Having come to Paris with an intense hatred of romanticism, he was struck by the artistic possibilities of the _Halles Centrales_, the great provision markets of Paris, which he haunted in search of subjects for his brush. He was induced by Florent to attend one of the republican meetings in Lebigre's cafe, but was not in sympathy with the movement, and declined to take part in it. He occasionally visited his aunt, Madame Lisa Quenu, but revolted against her complete indifference to art, and her middle-cla.s.s selfishness. Le Ventre de Paris.

He was appointed a member of the family council which nominally had charge of Pauline Quenu's fortune. La Joie de Vivre.

He established himself in a studio near the roof of an old house close to the river, and there lived the life of a Bohemian, with an absolute disdain for everything not related to art. He revolted against the canons of the schools, and tried to achieve truth in painting by adopting an exaggerated realism. His hopes became centred in a large painting, which he called _Plein Air_, intended for exhibition in the _Salon_. The picture was rejected, and when shown at a minor exhibition was greeted with derision by the public. About this period began his connection with Christine Hallegrain, with whom he lived for several years, and ultimately married. They took up house at Bennecourt in an old cottage, and there some years pa.s.sed happily enough, a son named Jacques Louis being born in 1860. But Claude gradually became discontented, and the family returned to Paris, where there began a long struggle against poverty, a struggle beginning in high antic.i.p.ation and ending in despair. After a long search for a subject for a picture which was to be his masterpiece, Claude selected a stretch of the river near Notre Dame, and into this he intended to put all those new theories of art with which he hoped to revolutionize the world. Everything was sacrificed to this picture; the small fortune left him by his early benefactor was gradually realized to provide food, and when it was exhausted there was little but starvation for the artist and his dependants. The work was begun in a frenzy of genius, but was constantly interrupted by doubts and indecision; it became a monomania, and under its influence Claude's mind gradually became unhinged; the family virus was at last showing itself. Christine was wholly taken up with her husband, and their child died of an illness due greatly to neglect. By this time Claude was incapable of any real feeling save for art, and the death of his child only served to give him a subject for a picture.

Having torn himself away from his intended masterpiece for a time, he painted _L'Enfant Mort_, which was exhibited in the _Salon_, and met with an even more contemptuous reception from the public than his _Plein Air_. Christine used all her influence to prevent her husband from returning to his task, but his brain had become obsessed by the great idea, which his hand proved powerless to execute as his mind became increasingly deranged. At length, in a moment of delirium, he hanged himself in front of the picture which had proved the means of his undoing. His genius was incomplete, and he was unable to carry out his own theories, but they were adopted by other and less able successors with better results. He was buried in the cemetery of Cayenne at Saint-Ouen. L'Oeuvre.

LANTIER (MADAME CHRISTINE), wife of the preceding. See Christine Hallegrain. L'Oeuvre.

LANTIER (ETIENNE), the youngest son of Auguste Lantier and Gervaise Macquart, was born in 1846, and accompanied his parents to Paris in 1850. La Fortune des Rougon.

After his mother had been married to Coupeau for some time, and had started her laundry, Etienne was found somewhat in the way, and on the suggestion of Goujet was sent to work in the rivet-making factory where he himself was employed. Later the boy was sent to Lille, where he was apprenticed to an old master of Goujet, an engineer in that town. When Gervaise had fallen into poverty, Etienne, who was by that time a stoker on an engine, was able to send his mother a five-franc piece occasionally. L'a.s.sommoir.

In a moment of pa.s.sion Etienne struck his chief, and was at once dismissed from his employment. An industrial crisis existed at the time, and, finding it impossible to get work, he tramped from place to place till eventually he arrived at Montsou, worn out with fatigue and want.

At the Voreux pit he chanced to get work in a gang led by Maheu, and went underground for the first time. The work was hard and distasteful to him, but he was unwilling to give it up, and was perhaps influenced by the bright eyes of Catherine Maheu, who toiled alongside him. He became more and more impressed with the sense of the hards.h.i.+ps of the miners' lives, and his mind was also influenced by Souvarine, a confessed anarchist, beside whom he lodged. Gradually Etienne began to indoctrinate his companions with a spirit of revolt, and when the great strike broke out he became the leader. He did not, however, accept the extreme doctrines of Souvarine, and endeavoured to dissuade the strikers from doing damage to property. In this he was not altogether successful, and his influence became considerably lessened, until he was blamed by his comrades for the hards.h.i.+ps they had to endure during the strike, and for its ultimate collapse. He returned to work, and in the terrible catastrophe brought about by Souvarine he was cut off at the bottom of the pit with Chaval and Catherine Maheu. He had always loved Catherine, and notwithstanding their peril, an old jealousy revived, and in a struggle with Chaval, Etienne killed him. Days elapsed before rescue came, and by that time Catherine was dead. After six weeks in hospital, Etienne left for Paris. Germinal.

At Paris, later on, he took part in the Communist rising, and was condemned to death. He was respited, and transported to Noumea, where he married, and became father of a little girl. Le Docteur Pascal.

LANTIER (JACQUES), the second son of Gervaise Macquart and Auguste Lantier, was born at Pla.s.sans in 1844. He was six years old when his parents went to Paris with his brothers, Claude and Etienne, leaving him with his G.o.dmother, Aunt Phasie, who sent him to the School of Arts and Crafts. After two years pa.s.sed on the Orleans Railway, he became an engineer of the first-cla.s.s on the Western Railway. At twenty-six he was a tall, handsome man, with dark hair and a clear complexion. From childhood he had suffered from a complaint which the doctors did not understand, a pain in the head, behind the ears, accompanied by fever and an intense melancholy, which tempted him to hide like a suffering animal. When about sixteen years of age he became affected by a curious form of insanity, the desire to murder any woman of whom he became fond.

"On each occasion it seemed like a sudden outburst of blind rage, an ever-recurring thirst to avenge some very ancient offence, the exact recollection of which escaped him. Did it date from so far back, from the harm women had done to his race, from the rancour laid up from male to male since the first deceptions in the depths of the caverns?" Even with his cousin Flore, who loved him from childhood, the same terrible instinct arose, and could only be stilled by flight.

By chance, Jacques was a momentary witness of the murder of President Grandmorin, and when suspicion fell upon the Roubauds he came to be of opinion that it was well-founded, a belief which was confirmed by a subsequent confession to him by Severine. This avowal by Severine placed her in his mind in a different category from all other woman; she had killed, and was a person sacred and apart, a woman he could love without his l.u.s.t for blood being evoked. At the request of Severine, Jacques promised to kill Roubaud, her husband, whom she had come to hate; but, though all the preparations were made, it was Severine herself whom he killed, in an accession of that homicidal rage which he imagined he had conquered. He escaped all suspicion, and calmly allowed Roubaud and Cabuche to be punished for the crime. In order to see whether the murder of Severine had cured him of his blood l.u.s.t, he made love to Philomene Sauvagnat, thereby arousing the jealousy of her lover, Pecqueux, who was stoker on the engine driven by Lantier. A quarrel between the two men on the footplate of the engine resulted in both of them falling off, and being cut in pieces beneath the wheels. La Bete Humaine.

LANTIER (JACQUES LOUIS), born 1860, was the son of Claude Lantier and Christine Hallegrain. He was allowed to grow up wild at Bennecourt until he was two and a half years old, when his parents removed to Paris, taking him with them. Life in the city did not agree with the child, who to make matters worse was much neglected, his mother being wholly taken up with her lover, and his father with art. He grew up puny, serious like a little man; at five years his head had grown quite out of proportion to his height, but as his skull increased in size his intelligence diminished. His head alone continued to grow, verging on cretinism, until, in 1869, the unfortunate child died of some obscure form of malnutrition. L'Oeuvre.

LAPOULLE, a soldier in the 106th Regiment of the line, in the squad of Corporal Jean Macquart. He came from the Marshes of Sologne, and was so ignorant that when he joined the regiment he asked to be shown the King. He had great strength, and consequently all the heavy work of his company was a.s.signed to him. After the battle of Sedan, he was one of the prisoners on the Isle d'Iges, where driven frantic by famine, and instigated by Chouteau, he killed Pache, who had hidden some bread from his companions. The following night he attempted to escape by swimming the Meuse, but was killed by a bullet fired by a Prussian sentinel. La Debacle.