Germinal

by ïmile Zola

Overview

The thirteenth novel in Émile Zola's great Rougon-Macquart sequence, Germinal expresses outrage at the exploitation of the many by the few, but also shows humanity's capacity for compassion and hope. Etienne Lantier, an unemployed railway worker, is a clever but uneducated young man with a dangerous temper. Forced to take a back-breaking job at Le Voreux mine when he cannot get other work, he discovers that his fellow miners are ill, hungry, in debt, and unable to feed and clothe their families. When conditions in the mining community deteriorate even further, Lantier finds himself leading a strike that could mean starvation or salvation for all.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789391343309
Publisher:	Insight Publica
Publication date:	06/01/2021
Pages:	530
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.18(d)

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