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Jan-Maat's Reviews > Germinal
Germinal
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Zola had a very structured technique for the industrial production of novels, he would decide on where the action would take place and who the principal characters would be Les Rougon-Macquart gave him a family tree and a glorious mess of hereditary tendencies and illnesses to work within, the setting would be interrogated thoroughly and mined out. In researching Germinal Zola visited a coal mine and was intrigued by the big strong horses working underground - how, he asked, did the mine company get the big horse down the narrow lift shaft? The answer, inevitably, is the cruel one, little foals go in, but don't come out. That reality is the undercoat to the novel that Zola stamps into being - to mix metaphors horribly in a tragic mining accident of writing (view spoiler).
A man arrives and finds work in a mining village in Northern France during the time of the French 2nd Empire. The existence of the miners is hard, they sleep in the beds in shifts, youngsters make love where they can, families struggle with every penny to keep body and soul together. Even the countryside comes across as bare and bleak.
The mine manager observes the youngsters having sex where-ever they can in the countryside with a certain jealousy. Despite their lack of sexual inhibitions the mining families are desperate and envious of the comforts and security they imagine the professional class above them enjoys.
Then there is a strike and things really start to get bad. Nobody was happy before, nor will anybody be afterwards. Thank goodness we can read this in the glorious times of the fifth Republic and that structural inequalities no longer exist, and Liberty, equality and fraternity constitute the basic realities of all lives and no foals are lowered down mine shafts.
This is part of Zola's major series showing the influences of hereditary and environment, however it can be read and enjoyed as a free standing novel.
One of the problems though about setting novels in the recent past is that with the end of Empire (view spoiler) is that it can be argued that Zola sought to spice them up with sensationalist acts of violence and sex (view spoiler) then again, these are novels - not reportage despite Zola's writing technique.
A man arrives and finds work in a mining village in Northern France during the time of the French 2nd Empire. The existence of the miners is hard, they sleep in the beds in shifts, youngsters make love where they can, families struggle with every penny to keep body and soul together. Even the countryside comes across as bare and bleak.
The mine manager observes the youngsters having sex where-ever they can in the countryside with a certain jealousy. Despite their lack of sexual inhibitions the mining families are desperate and envious of the comforts and security they imagine the professional class above them enjoys.
Then there is a strike and things really start to get bad. Nobody was happy before, nor will anybody be afterwards. Thank goodness we can read this in the glorious times of the fifth Republic and that structural inequalities no longer exist, and Liberty, equality and fraternity constitute the basic realities of all lives and no foals are lowered down mine shafts.
This is part of Zola's major series showing the influences of hereditary and environment, however it can be read and enjoyed as a free standing novel.
One of the problems though about setting novels in the recent past is that with the end of Empire (view spoiler) is that it can be argued that Zola sought to spice them up with sensationalist acts of violence and sex (view spoiler) then again, these are novels - not reportage despite Zola's writing technique.
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Finished Reading
June 25, 2011
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Fionnuala
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Jun 20, 2017 08:08AM
When does a book stop being a novel and start being reportage - with fictional examples, of course, to give the undercoat of realism a glossy stamp? I've been wondering about that lately as a result of something I've been reading..
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Fionnuala wrote: "When does a book stop being a novel and start being reportage - with fictional examples, of course, to give the undercoat of realism a glossy stamp? I've been wondering about that lately as a resul..."interesting question when you put it like that, I'm not sure, since the fiction is only a blurring together sometimes of actual people or happenings, the need for nouns will only trap us in boxes of our own construction.
In my mind Zola was more of a journalist than a novelist. Particularly when he chose themes like the one in this work - I read it very long ago but I remember that I found it hard going... so very claustrophobic.
Kalliope wrote: "In my mind Zola was more of a journalist than a novelist. Particularly when he chose themes like the one in this work - I read it very long ago but I remember that I found it hard going... so very ..."claustrophobic is a good effect for an author to achieve for a novel partly set down a mine ;)
but I would not disagree Kalliope that he was more a journalist than a novelist, my impression was that his motivation was more 'journalistic' - in that his R-M novels serve to spread a story about how heredity and environment shape people.
Jan-Maat wrote: ".claustrophobic is a good effect for an author to achieve for a novel partly set down a mine.."Yes, of course. It was very successful at that... but hard to take.. I am claustrophobic anyway... When I read Zola: L'Assomoir I had a strong reaction too - I would not touch alcohol for a while - sordid images of the book would come back to me.. while Au Bonheur des dames made me feel like going shopping.
Kalliope wrote: "Jan-Maat wrote: ".claustrophobic is a good effect for an author to achieve for a novel partly set down a mine.."Yes, of course. It was very successful at that... but hard to take.. I am claustrop..."
zola certainly has his fingers on your pulse, best not read La Débâcle else you might invade France ;)
Jan-Maat wrote: "...his motivation was more 'journalistic' - in that his R-M novels serve to spread a story about how heredity and environment shape people."Despite his motivation, I would say that for the very reason of his spreading a story of how people are shaped, his works are more novelistic than not.
Teresa wrote: "Jan-Maat wrote: "...his motivation was more 'journalistic' - in that his R-M novels serve to spread a story about how heredity and environment shape people."Despite his motivation, I would say th..."
he certainly makes powerful impressions and memories for his readers
Very insightful review. I can skip the translator's intro if I eventually get around to reading Germinal, which has been sitting on my shelf for 30 years.
Kiekiat wrote: "Very insightful review. I can skip the translator's intro if I eventually get around to reading Germinal, which has been sitting on my shelf for 30 years."there are a lot of things we can read, no need to beat yourself up over it
