The Beast Within
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Product Description
La Bete humaine (1890), the seventeenth novel in the Rougon-Macquart series, is one of Zola's most violent and explicit works. On one level a tale of murder, passion, and possession, it is also a compassionate study of individuals derailed by atavistic forces beyond their control. Zola considered this his 'most finely worked' novel, and in it he powerfully evokes life at the end of the Second Empire in France, where society seemed to be hurtling into the future like the new locomotives and railways it was building. While expressing the hope that human nature evolves through education and gradually frees itself of the burden of inherited evil, he is constantly reminding us that under the veneer of technological progress there remains, always, the beast within.
About the Author
Emile Zola (1840-1902) was a French novelist and critic, the founder of the Naturalist movement in literature. Among Zola's most important works is his famous Rougon-Macquart cycle (1871-1893), which included such novels as L'Assomoir (1877), about the suffering of the Parisian working-class, Nana (1880), dealing with prostitution, and Germinal (1885).
Roger Whitehouse has taught at the Sorbonne and at Bolton Institute, where he is a research fellow.
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First Sentence
Roubaud walked into the room and placed his one-pound loaf, his pâté and his bottle of white wine on the table. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Roubaud walked into the room and placed his one-pound loaf, his pâté and his bottle of white wine on the table. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the ninth novel I have read in Zola's Rougon-Macquart series, and I'm compelled to spin a few words of praise for it. It is perfect in its structure and pace and has a more manageable cast of characters than some of the other works. The world of the railroads and all of the imagery and symoblism it entails is incredibly powerful: the train as the beast/wild horse, the anonymity it and modernity brought with it, and how Jacques loves his locomotive like a mistress. Oy! It's hard to talk about it without giving too much away, but the way things get wrecked and the way people die are ruthless and beautiful at the same time.
As always, Zola is merciless when it comes to the fates of his characters. Nowadays we are accustomed to fiction that asks us to see the dark side of human nature and to sympathize with the sinner, but I was amazed at how Jacques' urge to kill compels us to have compassion for him. And I loved how by the end of it we're sympathizing with Roubaud -- and the irony that the brute Cabuche is the gentlest and most humane of them all.
After L'Assommoir, Nana and Germinal, my heart grieves once again for Gervaise. Her family is so screwed! I'm hoping Claude will fare better.
As always, Zola is merciless when it comes to the fates of his characters. Nowadays we are accustomed to fiction that asks us to see the dark side of human nature and to sympathize with the sinner, but I was amazed at how Jacques' urge to kill compels us to have compassion for him. And I loved how by the end of it we're sympathizing with Roubaud -- and the irony that the brute Cabuche is the gentlest and most humane of them all.
After L'Assommoir, Nana and Germinal, my heart grieves once again for Gervaise. Her family is so screwed! I'm hoping Claude will fare better.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Beast Within is a near perfect blockbuster, combining clear and lucid writing with driving action in an exciting story. Zola's characters are interesting, complex, human and understandable if often revolting. To cap it all, Zola has things to say about the impact of technology on society and individuals, the nature of psychopaths and the motives for murder. It's a great page turning mixture.
Jaques Lantier (who is the brother of Etienne Lantier, the Hero of Zola's Germinal) is a handsome express locomotive driver on the Le Harve - Paris run. Rejecting his old childhood sweetheart, Flora, he takes Séverine Roubard as his lover, in the knowledge that she and her husband have murdered Grandmorin, a director of the railway company, who had previously sexually assaulted Séverine. Jacques keeps their secret but harbours one of his own, that he has a psychopathic desire to murder women. Flora meanwhile plots her revenge on Jacques and his lover whilst her stepfather is slowly administering rat poison to her mother.
All-in-all then, a lot of people in this book are thinking about or committing murder and this allows Zola to work his way very deftly through some of their various motives and, more interestingly, their states of mind before, during and after the act. The various crimes don't go undetected and the law is shown as being prey to the requirements of politics, business, careers and society. So that evidence is suppressed or ignored to get the right outcome. This is all too believable and closely mirrors miscarriages of justice that occur in our own time.
As with Germinal, Zola uses the world of new technology - in Germinal the mining industry, and here steam trains - as a relevant and useful background to the story. The animal-like characteristics of the trains echo the feelings of the characters, whilst the technology itself is clearly dangerous and exciting. The railway also dislocates people by moving them rapidly from place to place and creates monotonous dehumanizing jobs for the line workers. There are many minor characters involved with the railway and each has their own little story of petty jealously and rage. Put together, this creates an edginess that creates possibilities and sub narratives. Zola asks the reader to think about what technology does to people's lives and whether it is nature or the railway that has created the murderers.
Best of all this is a right rattling read and it's possible simply to enjoy the story and want to learn what happens next. Zola keeps the action and sub plots flowing and has several terrific action set pieces as well as moments of sexual passion and personal rage. In amongst all this there is tenderness and affection, human frailty, manipulation and emotional intelligence. This is a very smart book and I recommend it.
Jaques Lantier (who is the brother of Etienne Lantier, the Hero of Zola's Germinal) is a handsome express locomotive driver on the Le Harve - Paris run. Rejecting his old childhood sweetheart, Flora, he takes Séverine Roubard as his lover, in the knowledge that she and her husband have murdered Grandmorin, a director of the railway company, who had previously sexually assaulted Séverine. Jacques keeps their secret but harbours one of his own, that he has a psychopathic desire to murder women. Flora meanwhile plots her revenge on Jacques and his lover whilst her stepfather is slowly administering rat poison to her mother.
All-in-all then, a lot of people in this book are thinking about or committing murder and this allows Zola to work his way very deftly through some of their various motives and, more interestingly, their states of mind before, during and after the act. The various crimes don't go undetected and the law is shown as being prey to the requirements of politics, business, careers and society. So that evidence is suppressed or ignored to get the right outcome. This is all too believable and closely mirrors miscarriages of justice that occur in our own time.
As with Germinal, Zola uses the world of new technology - in Germinal the mining industry, and here steam trains - as a relevant and useful background to the story. The animal-like characteristics of the trains echo the feelings of the characters, whilst the technology itself is clearly dangerous and exciting. The railway also dislocates people by moving them rapidly from place to place and creates monotonous dehumanizing jobs for the line workers. There are many minor characters involved with the railway and each has their own little story of petty jealously and rage. Put together, this creates an edginess that creates possibilities and sub narratives. Zola asks the reader to think about what technology does to people's lives and whether it is nature or the railway that has created the murderers.
Best of all this is a right rattling read and it's possible simply to enjoy the story and want to learn what happens next. Zola keeps the action and sub plots flowing and has several terrific action set pieces as well as moments of sexual passion and personal rage. In amongst all this there is tenderness and affection, human frailty, manipulation and emotional intelligence. This is a very smart book and I recommend it.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Having always steered away from the "Classics" series, considering myself a "modernist". I found this book un-put-downable. Every scene vividly set and engaging without over-description or tedious narrative. The riveting pace of the train journeys equal any CGI-ed Hollywood blockbuster.
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