The Cruelty of Gesture in Zola's L’Assommoir

Abstract

An essential part of nonverbal manifestations is the kinesics that encompasses movements of the human body and the gestures articulated in the face. In a communicative act, the gestures acquire a key importance in the interpretation of emitted messages, being able even to contradict what has been said. In a literary text, especially those of a realistic nature, these gestures correspond to the attitudes of the characters and provide a reliable image of their behaviour and personality. The choice of the kinesic apparatus in a specific work generates in the reader particular perceptual simulations that, in addition, complete the literary interpretation cognitively. The present article aims at examining the kinetic manifestations in the novel L'Assommoir by Émile Zola and to relate its characteristics to the aesthetics of naturalism.