“Spring” from Jean Gourdon’s Four Days, Émile Zola (1874)

May 8, 2026 · 28 min

About this episode

This episode invites listeners to reminisce about the joys of springtime in youth through the lens of Émile Zola's work.

“The valley was mine, really mine; I had conquered it with my legs, and I was the real landlord by right of friendship.” Today, I invite you to remember springtime in your youth. Go back to that enchanted period, filled with an abundance of nature’s delights. Perhaps you remember rushing outside to roll down grassy hills, or rubbing yellow dandelions on your skin, painting it with the sun… Eventually, you put such childish frivolities aside, but the fresh spirit of Mother Nature still beckoned to do her job. Perhaps as a teenager you flirted on neighborhood walks, with only the bustling sparrows to watch you, or lay under the grand willow tree, relishing the cool vibrations of its lacey canopy rustling in the gentle afternoon breeze… Throughout the ages, young love has intuitively gravitated to the open air where the bloom of Spring could work its magic on yearning hearts… Spring doesn’t whisper. She parades her busy creation from on high to all who tune in to her blushing frequency. This may have been more obvious and accessible in Émile Zola’s time than it is today, distracted as we are by all this concrete, glass, and silicon. But she is nonetheless still there, with arms…

People in this episode

Host: Ruby Love

Topics covered

spring
youth
nature
love
nostalgia
literature

Keywords

spring
youth
nature
Émile Zola
nostalgia
Four Days
love
literature

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Four Days