Has Anyone Read Any Emile Zola?

[Bella Fortuna]

I suspect this may be a topic of



but thought I'd post anyway. Last night I watched the magnificent film Gervaise, based on one of his series of twenty novels about people living in France's Second Empire, L'Assommoir.

I've been attracted to naturalistic novels of that period for years, but have never read anything by Zola... now thinking of jumping into this cycle and seeing if I can make it through the other side...

And see that film if you have the opportunity! It's heart-wrenching.

[devogue]

I've watched Gianfranco Zola.

[charlou]

Intrigued ...

[Robert_S]

No, but I've been thinking about doing so ever since I read a Mark Twain review of him years ago.

[Bella Fortuna]

No, but I've been thinking about doing so ever since I read a Mark Twain review of him years ago.

I have two in the series I mentioned (one of which being the one from the film I watched) so even though they're out of order from the rest of the set I may start one soon.

[stripes4]

No, but I've read Anais Nin, which is completely unrelated but very interesting!

[Bella Fortuna]

No, but I've read Anais Nin, which is completely unrelated but very interesting!

Well lookie lookie!!

Hello you!

[Pappa]

No, but I've read Anais Nin, which is completely unrelated but very interesting!

Well lookie lookie!!

Hello you!

http://rationalia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=18060

[Svartalf]

Sure, maybe half to a full dozen of them... he's so much more readable than any of the other "great" authors of the 1800s that I had to suffer through in school like balzac or stendhal...

and I absolutely loved l'assommoir... even though it's one of the harder ones. La Terre was even worse though.

My favorite is Le Bonheur des Dames, one of the few to have something of a happy end.

Be careful about reading too many in close succession, I noticed that I'm prone to having Zola overdoses, even though he's fundamentally enjoyable.

[Bella Fortuna]

I'm still reading L'Assommoir - enjoying it very much, though.

[JOZeldenrust]

Not too fond of naturalistic novels. The protagonists tend to be whiny bitches. I respect and admire the strict and coherent poetic rules of the naturalists, I just wish they'd choose their themes a bit differently. I guess contemporary naturalistic novels do just that, but a lot of the new naturalistic stuff is so damned mediocre.

No, I'll take modernist and postmodernist literature over naturalist stuff any day.

[cowiz]

If no one had read Zola, then he would not be a famous writer. Stoopid question!

[Trolldor]

*snip*

lol. You don't like naturalists because they're whiney, but you're fine with post-modernism? A philosophy so bitchy it rejects everything and so undeveloped it can be replicated by anyone?

[Svartalf]

mmmh, I don't fucking care about genres... Zola was a fine writer. I don't know about "new" or "contemporary" naturalist novels...

[JOZeldenrust]

*snip*

lol. You don't like naturalists because they're whiney, but you're fine with post-modernism? A philosophy so bitchy it rejects everything and so undeveloped it can be replicated by anyone?

Postmodernism isn't just a philosophy. It's also a literary movement. It should be obvious that "postmodernism" when used in the subforum about literature, in a sentence about literary movements, in a coordinating conjunction with "modernism", which is exclusively a literary movement, refers to the literary movement, not the philosophical school.

A lot of postmodernist philosophy is bullshit, but postmodernism does pose some relevant questions in the fields of philosophy of science, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, epistemology and metaphysics. Postmodern philosophy is the most important source of criticism of scientific realism. Because of this, it's impopular among those working in the exact sciences. They'll have to learn to live with it, though. Scientific realism is a dying branch.

But this isn't about philosophical postmodernism, this is about literary postmodernism, a poetic attitude that literature should be an informal game, challenging certainties and preconceptions.

You're welcome to criticize my taste in literature, but by equating literary postmodernism and philosophical postmodernism you're really disqualifying yourself.