Zola et Maupassant conteurs fantastiques : le genre en (r)évolution

In “classical” gothic stories, following the patterns established by E. T. A. Hoffmann or E. A. Poe, death is the starting point of the storyline which is imagined in relation to a central extraordinary event, like the appearance of a ghost, a phantom or any other supernatural being. In the 19th century, the fascination with achievements of human mind is completed by the study of mental diseases. Hence, the central event of most of the gothic stories of this time is the imaginary appearance of a double, an invisible persecutor or any other manifestation of the ideas hidden in a sick brain. Zola and Maupassant have created a number of stories following this pattern, where death is no more a starting point, but the last stage of a long process leading a man to madness. Thus, the dialectic of life and death is completely inversed.