Emile Zola (1840-1902) is perhaps the most important French writer of the 19th century. Zola dramatically shaped the course of French literature through the development of naturalism, characterized by the unsentimental and realistic portrayal of middle and lower class French life. His twenty novel cycle «Les Rougon-Macquart» is epic in scope, often drawing comparisons to the prolific output of Balzac. Here, in his 1878 novel «Une page d'amour» («A Love Episode») we encounter the eighth...
Emile Zola (1840-1902) is perhaps the most important French writer of the 19th century. Zola dramatically shaped the course of French literature through the development of naturalism, characterized by the unsentimental and realistic portrayal of middle and lower class French life. His twenty novel cycle «Les Rougon-Macquart» is epic in scope, often drawing comparisons to the prolific output of Balzac. Here, in his 1878 novel «Une page d'amour» («A Love Episode») we encounter the eighth...
"Abbé Mouret's Transgression" (La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret), written in 1874, is perhaps the most powerful and poetic of all Zola's tales; it is that in which fantasy bears the greatest part, and in which «naturalisme» for a while disappears. The opening chapters describe a profligate and almost pagan village in Provence, and here «naturalisme» is at home, and in its proper place. The fifth novel in Zola's «Rougon-Macquart» series, «Abbé Mouret's Transgression» is the...
"Abbé Mouret's Transgression" (La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret), written in 1874, is perhaps the most powerful and poetic of all Zola's tales; it is that in which fantasy bears the greatest part, and in which «naturalisme» for a while disappears. The opening chapters describe a profligate and almost pagan village in Provence, and here «naturalisme» is at home, and in its proper place. The fifth novel in Zola's «Rougon-Macquart» series, «Abbé Mouret's Transgression» is the...