Abstract: Although one of the principal aims of La Fortune des Rougon is to open the Rougon-Macquart cycle and establish the family, the novel is not limited to this function. The aim of this article is to show that the œuvre-vitrine is a thoughtful œuvre whose depth is also found in the allegorical and metaphorical mises en abyme which represent the birth of the cycle; in the course of a poetic reverie, it turns into an œuvre-miroir, the reflection of the creator in the traces of his creation.
