Les Rougon-Macquart (English)
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The Fortune of the Rougons
by Émile Zola
Part 1 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
We enter the world of a fictional town of Plassans in Zola's native region of Provence and we are introduced to the eccentric heroine Adelaide Fouque, later known as Tante Dide, who becomes the common ancestor for both the Rougon and Macquart families. Her legitimate son from her short marriage to her late husband, a labourer named Rougon who worked on Dide's land, is forced to grow up alongside two illegitimate children.
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The Fortune of the Rougons
by Émile Zola
Part 1 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
The Fortune of the Rougons' is the first novel in Zola's monumental 'Les Rougon-Macquart' series. The novel is partly an origin story with an enormous cast of characters, many of whom go on to become the main characters of later novels in the series. It is also a testament to the December 1851 coup d'état that gave rise to the Second French Empire, from the perspective of a large provincial town in southern France.
As the title suggests. the protagonists Pierre and Felicité Rougon chase fortune in all its symbolic and tangible meanings in one grand, captivating and hilarious adventure. The title also pays homage to the fortunes of many different family members introduced in the novel, whose lives take on an integral importance throughout later books. An unquestionably successful foundation for the ensuing masterpieces of the series - 'The Fortune of the Rougons' is sure to be savoured by fans of 'Germinal' as an exciting and engrossing read.
Nominated twice in the first two instances of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Zola is cited as a major literary influence on authors of the new journalism style of writing, namely Tom Wolfe, Truman Capote, and Gay Talese.
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The Fortune of the Rougons
by Émile Zola
Part 1 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
A French family's origins and their life under Napoleon III's Second Empire are explored in this classic novel by the author of Thérèse Raquin.
Émile Zola's The Fortune of the Rougons is the first entry in his epic Les Rougon-Macquart cycle of novels. The cycle begins as Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte leads his coup d'état of December 1851 to create the Second French Empire. While the aristocrats support the monarchy, the workers support the republic. Murder, treachery, and greed spread across the land as the new empire is built with violence, and the "fortune" of the Rougons will be paid for in blood . . .
The Fortune of the Rougons opens as young lovers Silvère and Miette join woodcutters and peasants in a republican army to resist Napoleon III and seize control of their town of Plassans. As the action continues, author Émile Zola explores the foundations of the Rougon family and its illegitimate Macquart branch, bringing to light hereditary weaknesses that will pass to future generations . . .
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The Fortune of the Rougons
by Émile Zola
Part 1 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
The book's stirring opening happens on the eve of the coup d'état, involving an idealistic young village couple joining up with the republican militia in the middle of the night. Zola then spends the next few chapters flashing back in time to pre-Revolutionary Provence. We are then introduced to the eccentric heroine Adelaide Fouque, later known as "Tante Dide," becomes the common ancestor for both the Rougon and Macquart families. Her legitimate son from her short marriage to her late husband, is forced to grow up alongside two illegitimate children, from Dide's later romance with the smuggler, poacher, and alcoholic Macquart.
ebook
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The Fortune of the Rougons
by Émile Zola
Part 1 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
The book's stirring opening happens on the eve of the coup d'état, involving an idealistic young village couple joining up with the republican militia in the middle of the night. Zola then spends the next few chapters flashing back in time to pre-Revolutionary Provence. We are then introduced to the eccentric heroine Adelaide Fouque, later known as "Tante Dide," who becomes the common ancestor for both the Rougon and Macquart families. Her legitimate son, from her short marriage to her late husband, is forced to grow up alongside two illegitimate children, from Dide's later romance with the smuggler, poacher, and alcoholic Macquart.
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The Rush for the Spoil
by Émile Zola
Part 2 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
The Rush for the Spoil' is the second novel in Zola's 'Les Rougon-Macquart' series. It is set in Paris during the reign of Napoleon III and focuses on the modernization and evisceration of the ancient city.
Aristide Rougon leaves the countryside for the city in order to climb the social hierarchy and improve his financial conditions - but what lengths is he wiiling to go? It is in this artificial world at the turn of the 20th century where Aristide's wife Renne steps in, a diametric opposite personality to her husband.
Depicting the greed of its main characters combined with their cynical attitudes, this is a dark, disturbing yet highly engaging read with an ironic and chilling finale.
It's an example of Zola at his best: prose that is strong and compelling yet poetic and atmospheric, as well as psychologically complex characters - Zola's hallmark social critique and a heavy dose of sensationalism. Acclaimed writers that cite Zola among their main influences include Tom Wolfe, Truman Capote, and Gay Talese.
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The Fat and the Thin
by Émile Zola
Part 3 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
"Respectable people...What bastards!"
Rake-thin and exhausted prisoner Florent, wrongly convicted during the 1848 Revolution, escapes and seeks refuge with his half-brother in Paris. Florent finds a job at the local central market Les Halles. Initially he is met with a baffled but friendly warmth. But this warmth soon erodes into a poisonous animosity in an atmosphere shot with insidious political intrigue, petty rivalries and perfidious gossip from the "respectable people", that impinge upon the Florent's safety and wellbeing.
'The Fat and the Thin' is the third installment of the 'Les Rougon-Macquart' series packed with powerful social commentary comparing those in power (the fat) to those in the lower classes (the thin).
The allegories of the burgeoning Parisian market stalls are so poignant that the reader would be forgiven for thinking this is a story of anthropomorphism, where the characters have turned into the food they buy and sell. Yet, simultaneously rebuffed with depictions of abject poverty, this is an unforgettable novel reminiscent of 'The Ladies' Paradise' and 'Nana'. It comes as little surprise that literary icons Charles Dickens and Anthony Bourdain cited Zola among their favourite authors.
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The Conquest of Plassans
by Émile Zola
Part 4 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
Zola dramatically shaped the course of literature through the development of naturalism, characterized by the unsentimental and realistic portrayal of class in French society. His twenty novel cycle "Les Rougon-Macquart" is epic in scope, often drawing comparisons to the prolific output of Balzac. Here in the fourth installment of that epic collection we find "The Conquest of Plassans," which centers on the fictional Provencal town of Plassans. The generally pleasant lives of the townspeople are disrupted when the strange and sinister cleric Abbé Faujas comes to town. As the story unravels it becomes evident that the cleric has arrived to try and win influence in the town for outside political forces. Through a series of intrigues, plots, slanders and insinuations, Faujas begins to unravel the otherwise harmonious community. No family is more impacted by the cleric's machinations than that of Francois Mouret.
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The Conquest of Plassans
by Émile Zola
Part 4 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
The Conquest of Plassans' is the fourth novel in the 'Les Rougon-Macquart' cycle, returning the reader to the fictional Provencal town of Plassans. It follows the Mouret family as their lives are forever upended by the arrival of an unscrupulous and sinister cleric. The devious cleric manipulates the townsfolk and the Mouret family in particular, for his own political intrigue and to build clerical power in the provinces. The struggle for power between the clergy and government becomes secondary to the human drama unfolding before us as the unassuming town of Plassans is torn apart in a complex web of greed, evil and faith. It is an astonishing drama built on the strength of it's characters and the pace of it's plot, perfect for anyone who loved 'Les Miserables'.
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Abbe Mouret's Transgression
by Émile Zola
Part 5 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
Abbe Mouret's Transgression' is the fifth novel in the 'Les Rougon-Marquart' cycle, following the overly zealous priest Serge Mouret in his search for spiritual purity. He lives in a near constant state of prayer, neglecting his worldly needs until he becomes gravely ill and begins to suffer from Amnesia. In this state of amnesia he forgets his priestly vows, becoming a whole other person and experiencing the world in a completely new and profound way. This novel draws numerous biblical parallels, exploring the meaning of innocence and sin as well as the relationship between the Church and Nature. It is an incredibly compelling and thoughtful read with truly beautiful moments thanks to the strength of it's cast of characters.
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His Excellency
by Émile Zola
Part 6 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
His Excellency' is the sixth entry in the 'Les Rougon-Marquart', set in the Imperial court it chronicles the absolute power and corruption of the upper echelons of French society. Our protagonist, Eugene Rougon is the vice-emperor, one of the most powerful men in the empire but his position is never an assurance of safety. We are thrown in to a world of political intrigue, of rivalries and schemes, blackmail, bribery and manipulation in this political thriller. It is a thriller that rises above pure political drama to become an important discourse on the manipulation of legislation for personal power. It is a brilliant read exposing the fragility of the powerful and is perfect for anyone who loved 'House of Cards'.
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L'assommoir
by Émile Zola
Part 7 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
Gervaise and Coupeau are happily married and through hard work they manage to advance in society. Until Coupeau is injured and takes to idleness, gluttony and eventually to drink. The novel shows the affect of alcoholism and poverty on the lives of people in the working-class districts of Paris.
Seventh in Émile Zola's twenty-volume series "Les Rougon-Macquart", "L'Assommoir" is one of Zola's masterpieces and his most realistic work.
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L'Assommoir (The Drinking Den, or Dram Shop)
by Émile Zola
Part 7 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
Widely acknowledged as one of Emile Zola's masterpieces, "L'Assommoir" is a novel immersed in the harsh poverty and relief-giving alcoholism of working-class Paris in the nineteenth century. At the heart of Zola's shockingly realistic descriptions is Gervaise, a mother abandoned by her lover who must learn to survive alone on what she can earn. When she marries the abstemious roof-worker Coupeau and manages to open her own laundry, life is for a while successful and happy. Unfortunately, Coupeau is seriously injured shortly after the birth of their daughter Anna, and his plunge into heavy drinking soon proves ruinous for the entire family. A contemporary commercial triumph, Zola's novel sparked discussion and criticism in both the social and literary realms, establishing the author's international reputation for a masterful use of the French language that devastatingly depicted the tragedy of realism.
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A Love Episode
by Émile Zola
Part 8 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
"A Love Episode" is Zola at his best. Read as the Rougon-Macquart family tree continues to develop, we witness the dynamism of the human spirit in full bloom. Only Zola captures French life under the Second Empire with such force and vision.
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A Love Episode
by Émile Zola
Part 8 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
A Love Episode', the eighth entry in the 'Les Rougon-Marquart- cycle is unusual in Zola's collection as it seemingly does not contain a social critique but instead focuses intensely on our protagonist, Helene. Helene is a widow caring for her sickly daughter on a daily basis who gradually falls in love with her doctor. It is an intense character study of a dutiful woman who refuses her happiness at every turn, constantly torn between her duties as a mother and her own personal needs. It is a maelstrom of love, affairs and heartbreak in the City of Lights, powered by it's brilliantly written protagonist and bookended by a profound conclusion. It is a wonderful read, perfect for anyone who loved Netflix's 'Bridgerton'.
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Nana
by Émile Zola
Part 9 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
Nana tells the story of Nana Coupeau's rise from streetwalker to high-class cocotte during the last three years of the French Second Empire. Nana first appears in the end of L'Assommoir (1877), another of Zola's Rougon-Macquart series, in which she is portrayed as the daughter of an abusive drunk; in the end, she is living in the streets and just beginning a life of prostitution.
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Nana
by Émile Zola
Part 9 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
In the waning years of the French Second Empire, French prostitute Nana Coupeau rises from the streets to the heights of clandestine French society by virtue of her performance as the lead in La blonde Venus, a fictional operetta. While her performance is terrible, her sexual appeal and magnetism win over the audience and she becomes famous overnight. Author Émile Zola based the character of Nana on stories he heard about the operetta star Anna Judic.
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Nana
by Émile Zola
Part 9 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
Nana tells the story of Nana Coupeau's rise from streetwalker to high-class cocotte during the last three years of the French Second Empire. We first meet Nana at the tender age of fifteen, and all of a sudden, in the good-natured child the woman stood revealed, a disturbing woman with all the impulsive madness of her sex, opening the gates of the unknown world of desire. Nana was still smiling, but with the deadly smile of a man-eater.
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Nana
by Émile Zola
Part 9 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
We first meet Nana in the Variety Theatre, where the captivating eighteen-year-old is appearing in the lead role of a musical-even though she can't act or sing. "Nana has something that makes up for everything else," the theater owner explains, and he's right. Instead of booing her off the stage, the crowd howls with admiration. She has disrobed by the third act, and her career as a femme fatale is off to a sensational start. Nana crawls out of the gutter to ascend the heights of Parisian society, devouring men and squandering fortunes along the way. Zola begins the story of French realism's most beguiling siren in 1867, amid the decadence and moral decay of France's Gilded Age. Nana's corruption reflects the spirit of her era, her prostitution symbolizing the degenerate state of Second Empire politics and society. Hailed as one of the first modern novels, Nana addresses contemporary subjects with realistic observations, dialogue, and scenarios. Its publication sparked a heated controversy that made it an overnight bestseller, and it has long since reigned as a classic of French literature.
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Nana
by Émile Zola
Part 9 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
She is beautiful, charismatic and destroys every man who dares to pursue her. Before the character of femme fatale was coined in American cinema, Émile Zola captured the seductive female power in "Nana": the ninth installment in the Les Rougon-Macquart series. A daughter of an abusive drunk, forced to live on the streest, Nana manages to rise to high-class prostitute. The novel begins with her debute in Théâtre des Variétés causing all Paris to talk about her. Follow the corrupted and tragic life of a Parisian courtesan in this Zola's masterpiece.
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Pot Luck (Pot-Bouille)
by Émile Zola
Part 10 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
The tenth novel in the "Rougon-Macquart" series by Émile Zola, "Pot Luck (Pot-Bouille)" was first published in serially format in the periodical "Le Gaulois" between January and April 1882. The title of the work, "Pot-Bouille," is a 19th-century French slang term for a large cooking pot used for preparing stews. It is a term that really has no direct translation in English. The title of the novel which recounts the activities of the residents of a block of flats in the Rue de Choiseul over the course of two years is meant to reflect the greed, ambition and depravity which lie beneath a thin veil of upstanding moral character. The residents of this block of flats are comprised of principally five families: The Campardons, The Duveyriers, The Josserands, The Vabres, and The Pichons. New resident 22-year-old Octave Mouret who has taken a salesman's job at a nearby shop, moves into the building and causes a stir as he pursues the married women of the community.
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The Ladies' Paradise
by Émile Zola
Part 11 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
Émile Zola was one of the most important, though controversial, French novelists of the late nineteenth century, and founder of the Realist movement. In 1871 Zola began to write his most notable series of novels, the "Rougon-Macquart Novels", that relate the history of a fictional family under the Second Empire. As a strict naturalist, Zola was greatly concerned with science, especially the problems of evolution and heredity vs. environment. However, unlike Honoré de Balzac, whose works examined a wider scope of French society, Zola focused on the evolution of one, single family. "The Ladies' Paradise" is the eleventh novel in this series, and begins exactly where "Pot-Bouille" left off. Octave Mouret has married and now owns a department store where twenty year old Denise Baudu, who has come to Paris with her brothers, takes a job as a saleswoman. The novel reflects symbolically on capitalism, the modern city, changes in consumer culture, the bourgeois family, and sexual attitudes at the end of the 19th century. This edition includes a biographical afterword.
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The Ladies' Paradise
by Émile Zola
Part 11 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
One of the most important, though controversial, French novelists of the late nineteenth century, and founder of the Realist movement, was Émile Zola (1840-1902). In 1871 Zola began to his most notable series of novels, the "Rougon-Macquart Novels," that relate the history of a fictional family under the Second Empire. As a strict naturalist, Zola was greatly concerned with science, especially the problems of evolution and heredity vs. environment. However, unlike Honoré de Balzac, whose works examined a wider scope of society, Zola focused on the evolution of one, single family. "The Ladies' Paradise" is the eleventh novel in this series, and begins exactly where "Pot-Bouille" left off. Octave Mouret has married and now owns a department store where twenty year old Denise Baudu, who has come to Paris with her brothers, takes a job as a saleswoman. The novel reflects symbolically on capitalism, the modern city, changes in consumer culture, the bourgeois family and sexual attitudes.
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The Ladies' Paradise
by Émile Zola
Part 11 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
Silk dresses, sparkling jewellery and finest textiles: the glamour of the 19th century French department store can make anyone's head spin. When the 20-year-old Denise Baudu comes to Paris to work at "The Ladies' Paradise", little does she know of the corrupted values that lie beneath the layer of shining showcases. The eleventh novel in Émile Zola's "Rougon-Macquart" cycle captures the spirit of the budding capitalism in Europe. Discover the changes in consumer culture, the bourgeois family and the construction of the modern city through the eyes of the main characters in this capturing narration.
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The Ladies' Paradise
by Émile Zola
Part 11 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
Denise comes to Paris to work as a saleswoman at the heart of retail innovation – a new department store which threatens the existence of all the neighbourhood shops. Octave, the owner of this successful megastore, has gathered silks, woolens, ready-made garments, accessories and furniture. His aim is to overwhelm the senses of his female customers, forcing them to spend more. As Octave continues to drive the traditional retailers who operate smaller, speciality shops out of business, he finds himself slowly falling in love with Denise.
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Germinal
by Émile Zola
Part 13 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
The novel's central character is ...tienne Lantier, previously seen in L'Assommoir (1877), a young migrant worker who arrives at the forbidding coalmining town of Montsou in the bleak far north of France to earn a living as a miner. Sacked from his previous job on the railways for assaulting a superior - he befriends the veteran miner Maheu, who finds him somewhere to stay and gets him a job pushing the carts down the pit. ...tienne is portrayed as a hard-working idealist but also a naïve youth; Zola's genetic theories come into play as ...tienne is presumed to have inherited his Macquart ancestors' traits of hotheaded impulsiveness and an addictive personality capable of exploding into rage under the influence of drink or strong passions.
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Germinal
by Émile Zola
Part 13 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
Germinal', often considered Zola's masterpiece, tells the story of Etienne Lantier, a bright however uneducated young man with a volatile temperament who has just lost his job as a railway worker. He sets out for a small mining town where he finds a new job as a cart pusher. But the incessant clashes between the capitalists and the working class, alongside the appalling working conditions and dire poverty the workers are forced to endure, slowly but surely bring the narrative to its only possible denouement: revolution.
Abounding with vivid descriptions of the miner's inner and outer worlds, as well as the violent and often unjustified impulses of man, 'Germinal' is a superbly written, unforgettable novel. 'Germinal' voices outrage at the downtrodding of the many by the few, but also displays humanity's limitless capacity for compassion and hope.
Widely regarded as the founding father of scientific naturalism in literature, which aimed to describe the human condition as it really is, Zola was considered an influence by many prominent artists and writers of his time and the coming era, such as Vincent van Gogh, Tom Wolfe and John Steinbeck.
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Germinal
by Émile Zola
Part 13 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
The political awakening of a migrant worker in northern France leads to a coal-mining strike in this masterpiece of nineteenth-century French literature.
Former railway worker Étienne Lantier has come to the bleak town of Montsou in search of work. Befriending a coal miner, he soon takes a job pushing carts into the Voreux mine. Though he finds a place of respect among his fellow workers, Lantier begins to see how unacceptable their life of poverty, illness, and hunger truly is. As his political idealism takes shape, he inspires a strike that will bring both suffering and hope to Montsou. First published in 1885, Germinal is the thirteenth novel in Émile Zola's celebrated Les Rougon-Macquart sequence. It combines an uncompromising depiction of working conditions in northern France with an inspiring evocation of love, community, and the human spirit.
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Germinal
by Émile Zola
Part 13 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
The novel's central character is Étienne Lantier, previously seen in L'Assommoir (1877), a young migrant worker who arrives at the forbidding coalmining town of Montsou in the bleak far north of France to earn a living as a miner. Sacked from his previous job on the railways for assaulting a superior - he befriends the veteran miner Maheu, who finds him somewhere to stay and gets him a job pushing the carts down the pit. Étienne is portrayed as a hard-working idealist but also a naïve youth;.
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Germinal
by Émile Zola
Part 13 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
Set in the 1860s in northern France, Zola's masterpiece of naturalistic fiction portrays the hardships of a mining community in which backbreaking physical exertion is undertaken for starvation wages. Étienne Lantier, an unemployed mechanic with a fiery temper, finds lodgings with the Maheu family and works alongside them in the voracious pit that devours the youth, health, and spirit of its workers. Lantier's idealism and growing enthusiasm for socialism politics contrast with the violence espoused by his Russian anarchist coworker Souvarine. As the miners' conditions become increasingly desperate, Lantier organizes a strike that degenerates into a brutal clash between labor and capital. Zola witnessed firsthand the poverty and injustice suffered by generations of miners and their families. His vivid, haunting accounts of his characters' suffering are rendered even more powerful by his depictions of their will to live and faith in a better world. Strikingly frank in its depictions of sex and violence, this 1885 novel is a cri de Coeur for the working class.
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His Masterpiece
by Émile Zola
Part 14 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
The Masterpiece is a highly fictionalized account of Zola's friendship with the painter Paul Cézanne. Zola and Cézanne grew up together in Aix-en-Provence, the model for Zola's Plassans, where Claude Lantier is born and receives his education. Like Cézanne, Claude Lantier is a revolutionary artist whose work is misunderstood by an art-going public hidebound by traditional subjects, techniques, and representations. Zola's self-portrait can be seen in the character of the novelist Pierre Sandoz.
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The Masterpiece
by Émile Zola
Part 14 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
The fourteenth novel in a twenty book series collectively entitled, "Les Rougon-Macquart, L'Œuvre" was first translated into English in 1886, the title having since been rendered "The Masterpiece". Set in France's Second Empire, the story of naturalist painter Claude Lantier is believed to be a highly fictionalized account of Zola's friendship with the painter Paul Cézanne. The fictional artist of Zola's Bohemian world, Lantier, strives to complete a great work that will reflect his own talent and genius as a revolutionary, but struggles greatly in living up to his artistic potential. The story was perhaps too personal for Cézanne, whose correspondence with Zola ended immediately after the novel's publication. Nevertheless, this story of the misunderstood artist, brilliant but scorned by the intolerant art-going public and their unwillingness to abandon traditional practices, epitomizes the attitudes of Bohemian Revolutionaries and the nineteenth century era of French Naturalism.
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His Masterpiece
by Émile Zola
Part 14 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
His Masterpiece is a fictional account of Zola's friendship with Paul Cezanne and a fairly accurate portrayal of the Parisian art world in the mid 19th century. The story follows painter Claude Lantier who advocates painting real subjects in real places, most notably outdoors. This is in stark contrast to the artistic establishment, where artists painted in the studio and concentrated on mythological, historical and religious subjects. His art making is revolutionary and he has a small circle of like-minded friends equally intent on shaking up the art world and challenging the establishment.
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The Dream
by Émile Zola
Part 16 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
Angelique is adopted by a couple of embroiderers, the Huberts. Enthralled by the tales of the saints and martyrs, Angelique is dreaming about a handsome prince and falls in love with Felicien d'Hautecoeur, the last in an old family of knights, heroes, and nobles in the service of Christ and of France. His father, the present Monseigneur, objects to their marrying.
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The Dream
by Émile Zola
Part 16 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
Unique to Émile Zola's characteristic writing style , "The Dream" feels like a fairy tale among the rest of "Rougon-Macquart" series. It reveals the story of the orphan Angélique Marie: a nine year old girl, homeless, starving , adopted by a couple of embroiderers. From this moment on, her life continues like a dream. She grows up in the shadow of the church, St. Agnes in Beaumont, France, enthralled by the tales of the saints . Her dream is to be saved by a handsome prince and to live happily ever after. But is Angélique going to meet her knight in shining armor or this only happens in fairy tales? Read on and find out in this magical tale.
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Dream
by Émile Zola
Part 16 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
Emile Zola's novel Le Rêve (1888) is a love idyll between a poor embroideress and the son of a wealthy aristocratic family set against the background of a sleepy cathedral town in northern France. A far cry from the seething, teeming world evoked in Zola's best-known novels, it may at first seem a strange interlude between La Terre and La Bête Humaine in the 20-volume sequence known as the Rougon-Macquart cycle. However, belying its appearance as a simple fairytale the work reveals many of Zola's characteristic themes, the conflict between heredity and environment, between spirituality and sensuality, between the powerful and the powerless. The dream of Angélique, the central character, is at once reality and illusion, and this interplay provides the driving force of the novel. Above all, it is, as Zola himself described it, "a poem of passion," showing the lyrical dimension of his genius. This important new translation by Michael Glencross, the first in English since that of Eliza Chase in 1893, recaptures the vigor of Zola's original. The translator also provides a helpful introduction that situates the novel in the context of Zola's life and work as a whole.
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The Dream (Le Reve)
by Émile Zola
Part 16 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
Zola's twenty novel cycle "Les Rougon-Macquart" is epic in scope, often drawing comparisons to the prolific output of Balzac. Here, in his 1888 "Le Rêve" ("The Dream") we encounter the sixteenth installment of the cycle. This tale tells the story of the young orphan Angélique Marie. Enchanted by stories of heraldry and sainthood, she dreams of being swept away by a brave prince. Her fairy-tale wish works its way into her life when she falls in love with Félicien d'Hautecœur, a member of a noble family with deep roots. Their affair becomes tumultuous, however Félicien's father contests their relationship. "The Dream" is a fine work which fits neatly into Zola's expansive and varied oeuvre-a tale that truly demonstrates his naturalism and breadth of characterization.
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The Beast Within
by Émile Zola
Part 17 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
A tense, psychological thriller set upon the railway between Paris and Le Havre in the 19th century, "The Beast Within", Émile Zola's 1890 novel, is the story of Jacques Lantier, an engine driver on the railroad. Lantier is driven mad by the desire to kill a woman. After a visit to his Aunt Phasie, Lantier meets his cousin, Flore, with whom there has been a longstanding mutual attraction. Inflamed with desire he finds himself nearly attempting to satisfy his homicidal desire, but just nearly stops himself. Later following the incident he discovers the brutal murder of Grandmorin, one of the directors of the railway company. An investigation ensues and chief amongst the suspects are Roubaud, the deputy station master at Le Havre, and his wife Séverine, who both stand to inherit some property from Grandmorin. Lantier begins an affair with Séverine, whose marriage to Roubaud begins to become strained by the death of Grandmorin and the subsequent investigation. What follows is a series of tragic consequences for all involved as the novel races to its thrilling conclusion. This edition includes a biographical afterword and follows the translation of Edward Vizetelly.
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The Monomaniac
by Émile Zola
Part 17 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
The Monomaniac' narrates Jacques Lantiere's perpetual yet ultimately catastrophic descent into a maelstrom of madness unfolding upon the railroads between Paris and Le Havre during the late 19th Century.
The protagonist Lantiere, a deputy station master by day, suspects his wife of infidelity by night. Tormented by memories of events that occurred many years ago, Lantiere resolves to excavate the past piece by piece, but little does he know what sort of skeletons he is going to unleash from the proverbial closet. Nor does he bear an inkling of the unfathomable repercussions of his actions.
'The Monomaniac' is a fast-paced and suspenseful psychological thriller casting light on the dark passions simmering underneath the surface of every human being and exploring how, accompanied by even darker emotions, these passions may lead to a man's untimely demise if not held in restraint before it is too late. Beloved by fans of 19th Century French literature and true crime alike, this gripping tale based on a real-life account is bound to haunt you long after you have turned the final page.
Widely regarded as the founding father of scientific naturalism in literature, which aimed to describe things as they really were at the time, Zola was considered an influence by many prominent artists and writers of his time and the coming era, such as Vincent van Gogh, Tom Wolfe and John Steinbeck.
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The Beast Within (La Bête Humaine)
by Émile Zola
Part 17 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
A tense, psychological thriller set upon the railway between Paris and Le Havre in the 19th century, "The Beast Within (La Bête Humaine)," Émile Zola's 1890 novel, is the story of Jacques Lantier, an engine driver on the railroad and the titular "Beast." Lantier is driven mad by the desire to kill a woman, however when he has the opportunity to do so, he stops himself. Later following the incident he discovers the brutal murder of Grandmorin, one of the directors of the railway company. An investigation ensues and Jacques Lantier involvement in it quells his homicidal desire. Jacques-Louis Lantier is the great grandson of Antoine Macquart and the familial link that makes "The Beast Within (La Bête Humaine)" part of Zola's brilliant collection of novels and stories, "Les Rougon-Macquart." Noted for its realistic portrayal of French society in the Victorian era the "Rougon-Macquart" series stands as a hallmark of French literature.
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The Downfall
by Émile Zola
Part 19 of the Les Rougon-Macquart (English) series
"The Downfall (La Débâcle)" is Émile Zola's 1892 novel, the penultimate in the Rougon-Macquart series, which is a story set against the background of the Franco-Prussian War, the Battle of Sedan and the Paris Commune, events that led to the end of the reign of Napoléon III and the Second French Empire in 1870. The novel follows Jean Macquart, a corporal in the French army corps, as they are driven back by the Prussians deeper and deeper into France. The tone of the novel is a somber one as Zola masterfully depicts the demoralization of the French soldiers as they face the prospect of almost certain defeat and the severe and brutal consequences that the war plays upon the soldiers and civilians who must suffer through it. "The Downfall" is a classic and tragic work which provides a dramatic first hand perspective to an important time in French history.
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