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Product Description
The seventh novel in the Rougon-Macquart cycle, L'Assommoir (1877) is the story of a woman's struggle for happiness in working-class Paris. It was a contemporary bestseller, outraged conservative critics, and launched a passionate debate about the legitimate scope of modern literature. At the centre of the novel stands Gervaise, who starts her own laundry and for a time makes a success of it. But her husband Coupeau squanders her earnings in the Assommoir, the local drinking shop, and gradually the pair sink into poverty and squalor. L'Assommoir is the most finely crafted of Zola's novels, and this new translation captures not only the brutality but also the pathos of its characters' lives. This book is a pwerful indictment of nineteenth-century social conditions, and the introduction examines its relation to politics and art as well as its explosive effect on the literary scene.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
people tend to liken zola to dickens for the way in which he took a broad view of society, spending as much, if not more, time exploring and documenting the life of the working class than any other writer i can think of. this comparison is kind on dickens.
there are no cartoon villains or two-dimensional virgin waifs in zola, just credible, fallible characters who have a real reek of authenticity about them.
in l'assommoir zola documents the rise and fall of another member of the rougon-macquart clan, gervaise, who drags herself out of the gutter only to plunge back into it through by ill-chosen men and a displays of wealth designed to annoy her friends and family. the set-pieces involving gervaise's grand meals are spectacularly handled and oddly modern in the examination of politiking and display - anyone who has endured an excruciating dinner party or even christmas dinner with less than lovely inlaws will be nodding all the way through.
i don't want to give too much away but this is a book which does not disappoint. the translation - always a minefield with zola - is clear and concise and the dialogue especially gives a credible impression of the language and rhythm of working class speech.
if you have read nana already try this next and see her origins - if not order both as they are best appreciated together and do flow on.
five stars
there are no cartoon villains or two-dimensional virgin waifs in zola, just credible, fallible characters who have a real reek of authenticity about them.
in l'assommoir zola documents the rise and fall of another member of the rougon-macquart clan, gervaise, who drags herself out of the gutter only to plunge back into it through by ill-chosen men and a displays of wealth designed to annoy her friends and family. the set-pieces involving gervaise's grand meals are spectacularly handled and oddly modern in the examination of politiking and display - anyone who has endured an excruciating dinner party or even christmas dinner with less than lovely inlaws will be nodding all the way through.
i don't want to give too much away but this is a book which does not disappoint. the translation - always a minefield with zola - is clear and concise and the dialogue especially gives a credible impression of the language and rhythm of working class speech.
if you have read nana already try this next and see her origins - if not order both as they are best appreciated together and do flow on.
five stars
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Paris - about the 1860s. Gervaise, a young laundress, is deserted by her drunkard lover Lantier and left with two children. Henceforth suspicious of men, she is finally won over by Coupeau, a roofer, because he doesn't drink. She opens a laundry business with money from another admirer, and things are going well. However, after a serious accident, Coupeau changes for the worst, starts boozing, and drags her down with him to an terrible alcoholic end. It all sounds like a total tale of misery, but there's something about Zola's marvellous style, his control of detail and naturalistic conversation, and his refusal - unlike any other mainstream C19th writer I've read - to self-censor the grubby and sexual aspects of life, that made it extraordinarily gripping. It brought home a sense of its era - the sheer heroism of poor people's struggle to stay respectable and to survive when one slip could cast you into the gutter - more clearly than any other similar novel I've come across. There are some amazing set-piece scenes too: a vastly long (but fascinating and truly French) description of a big meal, a fight between two women in a laundry, a visit by a wedding-party to the Louvre - and we get taken into many fascinating places of work as well as many wine-shops and bars, including the sinister L'Assommoir of the title. Why did no-one tell me before how good Zola is? And apparently there's acres of his stuff about...
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Very disappointed with this translation - in fact I'd go as far as to say that the translation does not do this book any favours at all. All the characters speak like they have - sort of - come out of the East End of London... Should have bought the Penguin Classic version in retro. They say you shouldn't judge a book by a cover but this one even features a brunette Gervaise!!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Bland Cockney Translation of a French Classic
Margaret Mauldon's new translation has acknowledged that the modern audience is no longer shocked by slang in the way the original audience was. Read more
Published 18 days ago by Alex in Leeds
Read it!
My introduction to Zola was a second hand copy of Germinal,bought for 25 p.After reading it I thought "it doesnt get much better than this!"L Assommoir proved me wrong. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Douglas G. Baxter
Earthy tale of a tragic downfall.
In my opinion Zola is the least high-brow of the literary greats, he writes with insight and his compassion for the plight of the working classes of his time is evident. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Zola fan
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