Is the figurative meaning clean? Elements for a stylistics of bad taste in Le Journal d’une femme de chambre

When Mirbeau’s Journal d’une femme de chambre was published, it was widely received as a disgusting novel. The reviews emphasized the "garbage" and other "filth" it contained. This reading is not without some relevance. Indeed, this and other semantic fields make the novel a "journey to the end of nausea". This article aims to question the expression of disgust as a factor of thematic and stylistic unity in the novel, through the study of metaphors that play on both literal and figurative meaning.