Germinal

by ïmile Zola

Overview

Una joya de la literatura, "Germinal" no sólo es una de las mejores novelas del prolífico escritor Émile Zola (París, 1840, París, 1902), sino además una de las mejores novelas de la literatura francesa.
Émile Zola narra con una precisión de cirujano la vida y la miseria de los trabajadores de una mina francesa. Se percibe en cada página el sabor amargo de la explotación del hombre por el hombre y la embriaguez del poder. Acumulada como el temible grisú, la conciencia de clase empieza a despertar entre los mineros, quienes exigen la mejora de su situación laboral a través de la huelga. Las fuerzas ávidas de justicia social, amenazan con estallar y arrasar todo a su paso, pero la burguesía representada por los patrones y defendida por el Estado no estará dispuesta a ceder ni un solo palmo de terreno ante los agitadores socialistas.
En "Germinal", Émile Zola despliega su genio literario para lograr un perfecto retrato de las condiciones laborales de su época y de los avatares del movimiento obrero del siglo XIX, ese siglo al que el siglo XXI insiste tanto en parecerse y al que el siglo XX le debe una cuota significativa de horror y destrucción.
"Germinal" ha sido traducida a decenas de lenguas y publicada en cientos de países y ha sido fuente de inspiración para diversas adaptaciones cinematográficas y producciones de televisión.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9791041916337
Publisher:	Shs Editions
Publication date:	04/05/2023
Pages:	696
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x 1.53(d)
Language:	French

About the Author

Émile François Zola (born in Paris in 1840; died in Paris in 1902) was a journalist, a novelist, a playwright, and a political activist. He was one of the most influential French novelists of the 19th century and the founder of the literary and theatrical school of naturalism. Zola was a major figure in the political liberalization of France.

Émile Zola's works include novels, dramas, poetry, and criticism, among which is his famous "Les Rougon-Macquart" (1871-1893), a cycle of twenty novels which depict various aspects of life and society, such as "The Fortune of the Rougons," (1871), the first of the series (original title: "La Fortune des Rougon"); "L'Assommoir" (1877), the seventh novel of the series, about the suffering of the Parisian working-class; "Nana" (1880), the ninth installment, which deals with prostitution; "Piping Hot!," the translation of "Pot-Bouille" (1882), the tenth novel of the cycle and Zola's most sarcastic satire, which describes daily life in a newly constructed block of flats in late nineteenth-century Paris; "The Ladies Paradise" (1883), the eleventh novel (original title: "Au Bonheur des Dames"), which focuses on Octave Mouret, who, in "Pot-Bouille," meets Caroline Hédouin, the owner of a small silk shop; and "Germinal" (1885), the thirteenth novel in the series, considered by some as his masterpiece.

Zola's open letter to French president Félix Faure, under the headline "J'Accuse...!," published on January, 1898, charging various French officials with a "terrible miscarriage of justice," reopened the case of the Jewish army officer, Captain Alfred Dreyfus, who had been sentenced to Devil's Island. For that, Zola was himself sentenced to a year in prison but fled to England, returning one year later after Dreyfus' name had been cleared. Dreyfus was eventually reinstated as an officer and publicly decorated with the Legion of Honor.

Editorial Reviews

"Superb."—Professor James Chastain, Ohio University

"This is far and away the best English translation of Germinal currently available. The translator has captured the nineteenth century flavor of the original without sacrificing clarity or meaning. The introduction and notes are excellent and the map of Montsou and vicinity is a stroke of genius."—Professor Richard Cumming, University of Utah

From the Publisher