Emile Zola, Germinal [Germinal]

David Baguley (University of Durham)

Ed. by Nigel Harkness, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.05: French Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth-Century , 1800-1900.
Vol. editors: David Elwyn Evans (University of St Andrews), Edward Forman (University of Bristol), Elisabeth Gerwin (University of Lethbridge), Nigel Harkness (University of Newcastle upon Tyne), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield), Jennifer Yee (University of Oxford)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1885

Places

France (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Naturalist
Novel

Resources

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Recommended Reading

Germinal

(1885) is the thirteenth novel belonging to Émile Zola’s vast twenty-volume series,

Les Rougon-Macquart

(1871-1893), in which, by tracing the fortunes of the various members of a single family, the writer sought to study the effects of hereditary influences and environmental factors on his characters and present a panoramic view of the society of the Second Empire (1852-1870), presided over by Napoleon III. Set in the coalfields of northern France during the period March 1866 to April 1867 and dealing with a miners’ strike,

Germinal

was less controversial when it appeared than

L’Assommoir

Nana

, and

Pot-Bouille

, but it has maintained its standing as one of the novelist’s finest achievements and as a prototype of the novel of political, social and industrial strife,…

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2907 words

Citation: Baguley, David. "Germinal". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 06 December 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=11316, accessed 25 November 2024.]

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Emile Zola, Germinal [Germinal]

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