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...
The first major work of the father of French Naturalism, “Thérèse Raquin” is the shocking and scandalous initial big success in Emile Zola’s impressive writing career. Zola’s third novel was published serially in 1867 and then as a book in 1868. The story revolves around a young woman, Thérèse, who is unhappily married to her first cousin Camille, largely due to her domineering, if well-intentioned, aunt and Camille’s mother, Madame Raquin. Camille, selfish and spoiled by his mother, decides to...
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....
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). He was the most important example of the literary genre of naturalism, and an integral part of developing theatrical naturalism. «The Kill» is the second book in Zola's «Les Rougon-Macquart», a twenty-volume series about a fictional family during the Second French Empire. The Kill, a second translation of «La Curée», undertaken by...
Originally titled «Contes à Ninon» (1864) and «Nouveaux Contes à Ninon» (1874). Table of Contents: Stories For Ninon: To Ninon Simplice, The Ball-Program, She Who Loves Me, The Love-Fairy, Blood, The Thieves And The Ass, Sister-Of-The-Poor, The Adventures Of Big Sidoine And Little Médéric, New Stories For Ninon: To Ninon, A Bath, The Strawberries, Big Michu, The Fast, The Shoulders Of The Marchioness, My Neighbour Jacques, The Paradise Of Cats Lili, The Legend Of Cupid's Little Blue...
Zola's horrific short story depicts a man, Olivier Becaille, in a temporary coma and paralytic state. This condition leads his wife to believe he is dead. It even fools the doctor. Funeral and burial arrangements are made and carried out. Readers' will experience their worst fear through the eyes of Olivier Becaille. Émile Zola (1840 – 1902), French novelist, critic, and political activist who was the most prominent French novelist of the late 19th century. He was noted for his...
Les Rougon-Macquart is the collective title given to a cycle of twenty novels by French writer Émile Zola. Subtitled «Natural and social history of a family under the Second Empire», it follows the life of one family during the Second French Empire (1852–1870). In this tremendous work Zola first and foremost examines the impact of social environment on men and women, by varying the social, economic, political and professional milieu in which each novel takes place. It provides us with a close...
La Confession de Claude (Claude's Confession) was Emile Zola's first novel and his first attempt at what he would later call an «Experimental Novel». Published in Paris in 1865, it was quickly banned in the United States and Great Britain and was not translated into English for several decades. The Dead Woman's Wish The Dead Woman's Wish was first published in 1902. It tells the story of a young orphan Daniel, sponsored by Madame de Rionne who is on her death bed. The Mystery...
Naïs Micoulin (1884) was one of Zola's short stories about the trials of a factory worker in what was then the village of L'Estaque and is now administratively part of Marseille. Naïs, the wild child, has grown up into a sensual young lady. Stirred to the depths of his soul, Frederick contemplates his servant and soon, they indulge in caresses. Until Naïs' father swears to kill the man who dared to touch his daughter. Émile Zola (1840 – 1902) was an influential French novelist,...
In this trilogy, translated by Ernest Alfred Vizetelly (1853-1922), Zola delves into the history and politics of the Catholic church. The protagonist of all three novels is Abbé Pierre Froment. In Lourdes Pierre seemed in danger of losing his faith, but Rome opens with the young priest experiencing a newfound fervor toward his calling. Lourdes Lourdes, originally published in 1894, is the first volume in Emile Zola's Three Cities Trilogy. Zola examines the phenomena of the Lourdes shrine in...
This volume includes three books intended to illustrate the cardinal principles of human life according to Emile Zola. Originally named «Les Quatre Évangiles» was supposed to consist of 4 novels, but the last novel «Justice» was never completed: Fécondité (1899) Travail (1901) Vérité (1903, published posthumously) Justice (unfinished) «Fruitfulness» is the first of a series of three works in which M. Zola proposes to embody what he considers to be the four cardinal principles of human life....
Der fünfte Teil des satirischen Rougon-Macquart-Zyklus: Im Mittelpunkt steht der junge Priester Serge Mouret, den man bereits als Kind im vorherigen Band «Die Eroberung von Plassans» kennengelernt hat, und der an einer Nervenkrankheit leidet. Auf einem Landgut, auf dem er sich von seiner Krankheit erholt, verliebt er sich in Albine, die Tochter des Besitzers. Doch als seine Erinnerung zurückkehrt, lässt er Albine im Stich…-
Die dramatische Geschichte einer Landarbeiterfamilie kurz vor Ausbruch des Deutsch-Französischen Krieges: Jean Macquart, der sich als Wanderarbeiter und Tagelöhner durchschlägt, kommt in das kleine Dorf Rognes und verliebt sich dort in Françoise, die er später auch heiratet. Doch Buteau, ihr Schwager, hat auch ein Auge auf sie geworfen. Eine kompliziertes Erbangelegenheit, Eifersucht und Verlangen führen schließlich zu einem tragischen Ende…-