How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The love between my two heroes is the satisfaction of a need; the murder they commit is the outcome of their adultery, an outcome that they accept as wolves accept the killing of a sheep. (Preface.4)
Sex in Thérèse Raquin is always presented as the "satisfaction of a need." Thérèse and Laurent are merely fulfilling an animalistic impulse when they have sex. No love-making here, friends.
Quote #2
One must admit that it is hard [...] to hear people accuse you of having no other end except that of describing obscene pictures. [...] While I was writing Thérèse Raquin, I forgot everybody and lost myself in a precise, minute reproduction of life, giving myself up entirely to an analysis of the workings of the human animal [...]. In the chorus of voices proclaiming: 'The author of Thérèse Raquin is a wretched hysteric who enjoys exhibiting pornography,' I waited in vain for a single voice to reply: 'No, this writer is a mere analyst, who may have turned his attention to human corruption, but in the same way as a doctor becomes absorbed in an operating theatre.' (Preface.6)
In the Preface, Zola argues against accusations that the novel is pornographic. In doing so, he employs the metaphor of a doctor performing an operation. By treating the "human animal" like a cadaver in an operation room, Zola hopes that he'll present a "minute reproduction of life." Yawn. The book is actually much more interesting than that, we promise you.
Quote #3
In the scientific field, the accusation of immorality proves absolutely nothing. I do not know if my novel is immoral; I admit that I have never concerned myself with making it more or less chaste. What I do know is that I never for a moment thought I was putting in the filth that moral individuals find there. I wrote every scene, even the most passionate ones, with the pure curiosity of a scientist. (Preface.8)
Zola's argument that morality isn't relevant to science created a huge controversy. Like most of his claims. For example, his claim that all of the sex scenes in the novel were written with the "pure curiosity of a scientist."