Social Darwinism in the French Ideological Novel

Examining French ideological novels, Louise Lyle charts the development and motivation of French hostility towards social Darwinism during the fin de siècle. Lyle argues that the antagonism of authors from diverse literary schools was a consequence of and a response to historically specific insecurities relative to the state of the French nation. She analyzes works by Emile Zola, foremost among the literary naturalists and an exponent of 'scientific republicanism'; right-wing reactionaries Maurice Barrès and Paul Bourget; anarchist sympathiser Octave Mirbeau; pro-natalists and commentators on women's issues, Colette Yver and Marcel Prévost; and anti-Anglo-Saxonists, including Gustave Le Rouge, le Capitaine Danrit, and J.-H. Rosny. Lyle also investigates the legacy of the incorporation of social Darwinism by these authors in the work of post-World War II writers Vercors and Romain Gary and in contemporary fiction by Michel Houellebecq and Maurice Dantec. Grounded in the cultural history of biology, particularly in France, Lyle's study is an important contribution to literature and the history of science.