Editing Émile Zola (section)

==Quasi-scientific purpose==
In ''Le Roman expérimental'' and ''Les Romanciers naturalistes'', Zola expounded the purposes of the "naturalist" novel. The experimental novel was to serve as a vehicle for scientific experiment, analogous to the experiments conducted by [[Claude Bernard]] and expounded by him in ''Introduction à la médecine expérimentale''. Claude Bernard's experiments were in the field of clinical [[physiology]], those of the Naturalist writers (Zola being their leader) would be in the realm of [[psychology]] influenced by the natural environment.<ref name="nom"/> [[Balzac]], Zola claimed, had already investigated the psychology of lechery in an experimental manner, in the figure of Hector Hulot in ''[[La Cousine Bette]]''.{{Citation needed|date=October 2016}} Essential to Zola's concept of the experimental novel was dispassionate observation of the world, with all that it involved by way of meticulous documentation. To him, each novel should be based upon a dossier.{{Citation needed|date=October 2016}} With this aim, he visited the colliery of [[Anzin]] in northern France, in February 1884 when a strike was on; he visited La [[Beauce, France|Beauce]] (for ''[[La Terre]]''), [[Sedan, Ardennes]] (for ''[[La Débâcle]]'') and travelled on the railway line between Paris and [[Le Havre]] (when researching ''[[La Bête humaine]]'').<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gidSAAAAMAAJ&q=train+researce+bete+humaine |title=Steel Wheels: The Evolution of the Railways and how They Stimulated and Excited Engineers, Architects, Artists, Writers, Musicians and Travellers |last=Garnett |first=A. F. |year=2005 |publisher=Cannwood |isbn=9780955025709 |language=en}}</ref>