Newtonianism, Thermodynamics, and Information Theory in Zola's Le Ventre de Paris

Abstract

In Le Ventre de Paris’s struggle pitting the maigres (the “thin”) outcasts against the gras (the “fat”) bourgeois, it is only a matter of time before Lisa, the paradigm of the gras’ excess, comes into direct confl ict with her maigre houseguest and brotherinlaw, Florent. Her animosity seems to begin as a general uneasiness towards Florent and the inconsistencies between his past and the bourgeois society surrounding him,1 but swells as the neighborhood’s gossip feeds her own growing suspicions about Florent’s intentions. Eventually, a desire to know overcomes her— she has to visit Florent’s bedroom to learn for herself what he is doing: