Review: ‘Captain Burle’ (1882) by Emile Zola #Zoladdiction2024

Having had to give up on plans to read The Ladies’ Paradise for want of time, I decided to read instead ‘Captain Burle’ (1882) a short story by Emile Zola for #Zoladdiction2024. The story explores themes of honour, friendship, sacrifice, corruption, dissipation, the contradictions many times inherent in people, and indeed also life’s ironies.

Captain Burle is the son of a colonel, having distinguished himself on the field early in his career. But after a spell as prisoner in another battle, he has lost any ambition he may have had in the army and not only taken on the post of quartermaster in the small town of Vauchamp but turned stout, lazy and debauched. This has deeply disappointed his widowed mother Mme Burle who expected him to follow in his father’s footsteps, earning both glory and wealth. Now living in cramped, squalid quarters and her dreams thwarted, the old lady who has her husband’s military strength and bearing, has turned her ambitions to her grandson and Burle’s son, little Charles, a delicate boy with neither the inclination nor strength for the army but who timorously gives in to her rigid demands and often too harsh discipline.

It is this home that Major Laguitte, Burle’s boss, who holds his position after having suffered an injury on the field (and who’d served under his father), visits carrying a heavy burden. He has discovered that Burle has been forging receipts and squandering the proceeds at the establishment of Madame Cartier, the Café du Paris. Laguitte is himself dissipated, an inveterate gambler but restrained in that he limits his iniquities to his own earnings; he too is lazy, not conscientious about overseeing the accounts that Burle maintains, but he draws the line at cheating his employers. Having discovered Burle’s misconduct and knowing how it would pain old Mme Burle and hurt her name, he tries to get Burle back on track and for a time, it seems he has succeeded. But then, something new comes to the fore. Will Laguitte be able to protect his own name and his friend’s?  

Although titled and indeed about Captain Burle, we see the events of this story unfold through the eyes of a third person narrator, or from the perspective of one who is more properly the main character, Major Laguitte. In fact, one hardly gets to know Captain Burle at all, except through the eyes of others. His thoughts, his motivations remain unknown though the mention of his experiences as prisoner of war (no details given) can lead one to surmise why he might have wanted to get away from active service. And having seen Mme Burle’s ambitions, we can’t but wonder whether a glorious career in the army was something he ever wanted or whether it was Mme living out her ambitions through her son. Incorrigible though he may seem (and he is), he does get his brief moment of redemption.

In Laguitte on the other hand, we see a man of many contradictions, on the one side a soldier who has served bravely when on the field and worked his way up from drummer boy to major but now a wifeless, childless bachelor, spending all his earnings on drink and gambling; on the other, he is also a man of great honour, not letting his dissipations affect him to the point of dishonouring his duty. Not being intellectually too strong and perhaps also lazy, overseeing Burle’s work which is his job isn’t something he is much inclined to do either. On the other hand, when Burle becomes the cause of possible trouble not only to himself as his boss and overseer but also to Mme Burle (as also the family name and honour), Laguitte must take decisive action and for this we see Laguitte willing to give up much—more so than one would expect. In fact, the side of him which values honour and friendship takes over entirely, the other aspects of his character seemingly giving way. Yet, however ‘noble’ human actions and however great their sacrifices, life will have its little and not so little ironies.   

Mme Burle is rigid and harsh—downright cruel at times to little Charles who becomes simply a tool for her ambitions, not seeing what he really needs or is fit for; still one does still feel for her having lost not only her station in the world but having her dreams shattered, her son turning out quite the opposite to what he could have been, even in reduced circumstances; she understands too what has been done for her though her dreams seem to make her blind to things when it comes to Charles. Poor Charles through one truly feels sorry for—pretty much neglected by his father and left entirely to his grandmother to bring up, his wishes, his thoughts, even his delicate nature seem never to be taken into account—he must simply fall in with what his grandmother demands.

This is a story where both plot and characters are wonderfully explored with lighter notes also coming through amidst the more serious themes and developments. The course the story takes comes with its surprises, in more than one way.

This was a read for #Zoladdiction2024 hosted by Fanda at Fanda Classic Lit