Germinal French Edition Emile Zola 9781540692931 Books
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Germinal
Germinal French Edition Emile Zola 9781540692931 Books
Unlike so many of the five-star ratings handed out on Amazon like trophies at pee-wee football, Germinal is a wrought iron classic that deserves every star. For me personally, an amateur student of history and a lover of books, the characters and hardships and sorrows of Zola’s French 19th century village will remain with me a long time. The damp stifling horror of the mines. The poverty and privations of the town. He brought to life a time that the cold chronology of textbooks can only sketch.It's not a quick and easy read, not a thriller, but neither is it difficult and it rewards the reader with startling depth. At no time did I feel the writing was dated, perhaps because it’s a modern translation. Zola is both a novelist with a powerful story and a political philosopher asking hard questions and refusing to either settle for pat answers or proselytize. It helps to know a little of the history but it’s not necessary. Zola tells you all you need to know as you read. Pearson clarifies obscure terminology with footnotes. In the Kindle edition, the footnotes work particularly well, popping up with the text instead of taking you away from it.
Important: read Pearson’s introduction after you’ve read the novel. It has spoilers. I hate spoilers. If you don’t mind them or if already you know how the book ends, then the introduction is valuable to understanding the historical context. If you don’t read it first, definitely read it afterwards. Germinal is fiction but there’s a genuine tragedy behind it and Pearson will show you the powerful metaphors and leit motifs you may have missed.
Here are a few samples of Zola’s vivid writing that make the book so worthwhile:
"such talk never made a man’s soup taste any better"
"And over these lifeless buildings, wrapped in their black shroud of coal-dust, hung the steam from the drainage-pump as it continued its slow, heavy panting, the last vestiges of life in a pit, which would be destroyed by flooding if this panting should ever stop."
"All over the region, along roads still plunged in darkness, the herd was tramping through the mists of dawn, long lines of men plodding along with their noses to the ground like cattle being led to the slaughterhouse. Shivering under their thin cotton clothes, they walked with their arms folded, rolling their hips and hunching their backs, to which their pieces, wedged between shirt and coat, added its hump."
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Germinal French Edition Emile Zola 9781540692931 Books Reviews
This is a really fine work by Emile Zola. This is a work about the difficulties of life for coal mine workers in France. As I understand it, this book was carefully researched by Mr. Zola. I read the English translation of this work, and in such circumstances am dependent on the translator both for the accuracy of the content and the capturing of the artistry of the author. With that in mind, I did find the work very readable and enjoyable. This is a wonderful opportunity to read an iconic novel by an iconic author.
I first came across this work upon reading "Life in The Iron Mills" by Rebecca Harding Davis. Miss Davis' work was composed before the civil war and is about life for the industrial wokers in America. Karl Marx had written the "Communist Manifesto" in 1848. Elizabeth Gaskell's first novel, "Mary Barton" was published the same year. Charles Dickens authors "Hard Times" and it is published in 1854. Miss Davis' excellent short story was composed in 1860. Germinal was composed in 1885. "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair was written in 1906. According to my study, The Jungle was also a carefully researched novel. Then in 1908, yet another new style of novel emerges, the dystopian novel, "The Iron Heel" by Jack London. The Communist Manifesto's influence in The Iron Heel is unmistakable.
Setting aside the Communist Manifesto, the works above are works of fiction meant to depict the plight of the worker class. It is clear to me that a new narrative is emerging about the struggles of the new industrial working class. One will see common themes in the various works. These themes include struggles just to have enough food to eat, unsafe working conditions, low pay, long hours, child labor, and filth. One will see the industrial machines being described as never resting animate objects always looming in the background, moving, breathing, and consuming the lives of people.
I highly recommend this work both from the standpoint of literature and the emerging narrative of the struggles and rights of the working man and woman. I think that we in America can still see these issues being debated and seeking remedies and resolution in the 21st century. In the end, I am a believer in free enterprise and small government. However, one such as I only need to read the above works to see that there is definitely two sides to every story and every issue. In that context works such as Germinal and others similar in theme are extremely valuable and illuminating to me, providing much food for thought.
Unlike so many of the five-star ratings handed out on like trophies at pee-wee football, Germinal is a wrought iron classic that deserves every star. For me personally, an amateur student of history and a lover of books, the characters and hardships and sorrows of Zola’s French 19th century village will remain with me a long time. The damp stifling horror of the mines. The poverty and privations of the town. He brought to life a time that the cold chronology of textbooks can only sketch.
It's not a quick and easy read, not a thriller, but neither is it difficult and it rewards the reader with startling depth. At no time did I feel the writing was dated, perhaps because it’s a modern translation. Zola is both a novelist with a powerful story and a political philosopher asking hard questions and refusing to either settle for pat answers or proselytize. It helps to know a little of the history but it’s not necessary. Zola tells you all you need to know as you read. Pearson clarifies obscure terminology with footnotes. In the edition, the footnotes work particularly well, popping up with the text instead of taking you away from it.
Important read Pearson’s introduction after you’ve read the novel. It has spoilers. I hate spoilers. If you don’t mind them or if already you know how the book ends, then the introduction is valuable to understanding the historical context. If you don’t read it first, definitely read it afterwards. Germinal is fiction but there’s a genuine tragedy behind it and Pearson will show you the powerful metaphors and leit motifs you may have missed.
Here are a few samples of Zola’s vivid writing that make the book so worthwhile
"such talk never made a man’s soup taste any better"
"And over these lifeless buildings, wrapped in their black shroud of coal-dust, hung the steam from the drainage-pump as it continued its slow, heavy panting, the last vestiges of life in a pit, which would be destroyed by flooding if this panting should ever stop."
"All over the region, along roads still plunged in darkness, the herd was tramping through the mists of dawn, long lines of men plodding along with their noses to the ground like cattle being led to the slaughterhouse. Shivering under their thin cotton clothes, they walked with their arms folded, rolling their hips and hunching their backs, to which their pieces, wedged between shirt and coat, added its hump."
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