Crossing Borders:: A Reading of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle Through Emile Zola's Germinal

In whose fictional creation did Upton Sinclair seek inspiration for his masterpiece The Jungle? The following piece provides answers to this inquiry by tracing Emile Zola's presence in what may or may not be America's greatest proletarian novel, Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. Thus, a comparative study of The Jungle and Germinal becomes the lens through which the author endeavors to demonstrate that Sinclair modeled his masterpiece on Zola's novel. A close reading of these works unveils their overlapping in terms of characterization, theme and narrative. Following the introduction which presents the author's autobiographical commonalities, the first chapter investigates the works' character constructions. The second chapter is a discussion of their similar thematic issues. The final chapter deals with narrative, art and propaganda in a way that is consistent with the fundamental premise of this work. Authorial differences are also considered, but overall the main finding simply corroborates the undeniable nexus between these writers. The significance of this work lies in the extent to which it highlights some common grounds between American and French literatures.