La Bête Humaine
Ratings8
Average rating4.3
15
Ratings8
Average rating4.3
Did possessing and killing amount to the same thing deep within the dark recesses of the human beast? La Bête 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. This new translation captures Zola's fast-paced yet deliberately dispassionate style, while the introduction and detailed notes place the novel in its social, historical, and literary context. - Back cover.
Series
14 primary booksLes Rougon-Macquart is a 14-book series with 14 primary works first released in 1871 with contributions by Émile Zola, Brian Nelson, and 8 others.
Reviews with the most likes.
Peut-être mon roman préféré d'Emile Zola, lu quand j'étais adolescent et que j'étais déjà fasciné par les trains et les chemins de fer. J'ai très envie de le relire à l'âge adulte.
Des années plus tard, je l'ai enfin relu et j'y ai retrouvé tout le plaisir que j'avais pris en le lisant adolescent, et peut-être plus encore. Zola excelle dans ce récit qui mêle histoires d'amour, d'argent, de crime, et de folie, sur fond de chemins de fer.
Jean from the [b:The Debacle 19216733 The Debacle (Classics) Émile Zola https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386278798s/19216733.jpg 3522286] is in this book between the war in italy and the campaign described in the “debacle”.So vivid, so many characters... so much bitter realism..The earth is a huge work in quality, even considered by Zola his best. Jean after the War comes with his army buddy Buteau to the country side and in the next 10 years there is a whole lot of going on in the Family of Fouan in which Jean ultimately marries in to and gets bitterly disappointed. I am giving this 4.5 stars, I would have given it five if it would have had a happy ending. Now i am bitterly confused and disgusted with humankind. Adding to that is the fact that i already know that Jean is not going to have the happiest of times in the “Debacle” either.
