The Rush for the Spoil (1872) is a novel by French author Émile Zola.
The second of twenty volumes of Zola's monumental Les Rougon-Macquart
series is an epic story of family, politics, class, and history that
traces the disparate paths of several French citizens raised by the same
mother. Spanning the entirety of the French Second Empire, Zola provides
a sweeping portrait of change that refuses to shy away from controversy
and truth as it gets to the heart of heredity and human nature. Aristide
Saccard is the son of Pierre Rougon, a man born into poverty who rose
through vanity and shear opportunism to a position of power in the
France of Napoleon III. After a rakish youth, Aristide promises his
brother Eugene, a prominent politician, that he will make his way in the
world under a different surname. Destined for failure, he manages to
gain funding for a scheme involving the purchase of homes destined for
demolition. Collecting government compensation for each property,
Aristide turns a handsome profit and eventually becomes one of the
richest men in Paris. When his wife becomes terminally ill, he decides
to sacrifice the last of his morality by marrying a wealthy pregnant
woman, whose father has promised an immense dowry. As the years go by,
his fragmented family suffers under the weight of their father's
impropriety, illuminating the hypocrisy and obscenity of wealth in
nineteenth century France. The Rush for the Spoil is a story of family
and fate, a thrilling and detailed novel that continues a series rich
enough for its author to explore in twenty total volumes. With a
beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this
edition of Émile Zola's The Rush for the Spoil is a classic work of
French literature reimagined for modern readers.
