Abbé Mouret's Transgression

Émile ZolaProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.0

Word count: 711K words
Chapters: 72

Summary

Abbe Mouret's Transgression by Émile Zola. Author: Zola, Émile, 1840–1902. Language: English. Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese. Release Date: Nov 28, 2004. Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971, and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.

Editor's review

Zola's Abbe Mouret's Transgression is one of the Rougon-Macquart series, interweaving themes of religion and nature, and tells of a young priest in a rural parish torn between faith and desire. This English translation comes from Project Gutenberg as a public-domain e-book, making one of the representative works of Zola's naturalist style accessible at no cost. Its value lies in the detailed portrayal of religious psychology, rural society, and human conflict, with a language carrying the somberness and lyricism of nineteenth-century French fiction. It is suitable as supplementary reading in a Zola series and for readers interested in French literature, naturalism, and religious fiction. It should be read in the context of Zola's overall work rather than in isolation. The electronic edition has no notes, so first-time readers may use introductions or related studies to understand the period context.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in French literature and naturalist fiction
Those systematically reading Zola's Rougon-Macquart series
Literature lovers concerned with religious psychology and human conflict
Readers who want free public-domain English translations of foreign literature

Not a good fit for

Readers unaccustomed to nineteenth-century translation-style long sentences and landscape description
Those expecting fast-paced plot or light entertainment reading
Readers uninterested in religious themes and unwilling to learn the background

Reading tips

Read better-known works in the Zola series first, then approach this book to understand the character genealogy.
While reading, note the correspondence between the priest's psychological changes and the descriptions of nature.
Look up brief background material for religious terms as needed; there is no need to study every word.
Read alongside a Zola biography or an introduction to naturalist literature.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book the English or French edition?

According to the data, this is the English edition, with the language marked as English, released by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain e-book.

Can I understand it without notes or an introduction?

This is a public-domain electronic text and usually contains no notes. It is recommended to first learn the basic tenets of Zola's naturalism and the background of nineteenth-century French rural religion before reading the main text, which can reduce difficulty.

Do I need to read other works by Zola first?

This book belongs to the Rougon-Macquart series but can be read independently. To better understand the character relationships and series themes, reading better-known works in the series first will make it smoother.

Is it suitable as an introductory book to Zola?

Not necessarily. Zola wrote many works, and this book's theme is relatively specialized. Introductory readers may first choose his more widely known novels and then return to this book for a richer experience.

Comments

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About the author

Émile Zola Author · French · 1840–1902

Émile Zola (1840–1902) was a French novelist, critic and political activist, one of the most prominent French writers of the late nineteenth century and the founder of the theory of naturalism. Through his twenty-volume series Les Rougon-Macquart he constructed a vast social panorama, with representative works including Germinal, L'Assommoir, Au Bonheur des Dames and La Bête humaine. These works often take workers, peasants and ordinary city people as their protagonists, presenting poverty, labour and desire with meticulous observation and an almost documentary style, calm yet powerful. During the Dreyfus Affair Zola published the famous open letter J'Accuse, intervening in public affairs as an intellectual in the cause of justice. The library holds 93 of his works, including several translations.