Référentialité et sursignificiance de la description zolienne dans Nana

By comparing three descriptions of place in Nana, this article analyses Zola’s description in terms of “enunciative flakes”: at once the perception of the objects it displays, an exhaustive inventory, “horizontal realism”, and “vertical realism” (Hamon, 2011), that is, the interpretation by the author, and for the reader, of a reality to decipher. By constructing a vision of the world which exceeds the painting of a referent, Zola’s description becomes “oversignifying” (Adam & Petitjean, 1989).