Soirées de Médan, Les. Collection of six stories, published in 1880 by members of the so-called ‘groupe de Médan’, supposedly the major representatives of literary Naturalism. The volume consists of ‘L'Attaque du moulin’ by Zola, ‘Boule de suif’ by Maupassant, ‘Sac au dos’ by Huysmans, ‘La Saignée’ by Céard, ‘L'Affaire du grand 7’ by Hennique, and ‘Après la bataille’ by Alexis. The provocative preface and the publicity surrounding the appearance of this book created the myth which led critics to regard it as a kind of literary manifesto of the new school of Naturalist writers grouped around Zola and meeting frequently at his country-house in Médan. There is, however, more unity in the themes and techniques of this collection than there was amongst its authors. They all narrate, realistically and with mordant irony, incidents from the Franco-Prussian War, and seek to expose the brutality, hypocrisy, and futility of war in general, in opposition to the militarist and revanchist spirit of the age.
[David Baguley]
