Work

Émile ZolaProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.8

Word count: 1.2M words
Chapters: 121

Summary

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.Work [Travail] by Émile ZolaAuthor: Zola, Émile, 1840-1902,Language: English, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Aug 6, 2017

Editor's review

Work [Travail] is one of the later novels in Zola's "Four Gospels" series, continuing his reflections on social reform and utopian ideals. Unlike naturalist works such as Germinal, which portray the hardships of miners with cold realism, this book sets out the author's vision of the organization of labor, social justice, and human solidarity, and is markedly idealistic. The Project Gutenberg edition is a public-domain English-language ebook, making it easy for readers to encounter at low cost a side of Zola's thought that is often overlooked. It can profitably be read alongside Germinal and Money to trace Zola's shift from exposing social problems to proposing social solutions. It will appeal to readers interested in nineteenth-century French literature, the history of social thought, and utopian literature, and serves as a useful supplement to the Zola corpus. Note that this is an English translation in electronic form, so Chinese readers will need some English reading ability.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literary scholars studying Zola's later thought and the "Four Gospels" series
Readers interested in nineteenth-century utopian literature and ideas of social reform
Readers who have already read Zola's major works such as Germinal and wish to broaden their reading
Self-learners with English reading ability who prefer public-domain ebooks

Not a good fit for

Newcomers hoping to read Zola's naturalist masterpieces
General readers who struggle with English and need a Chinese translation
Casual readers expecting strong plot conflict and dramatic narrative

Reading tips

Read Germinal first, then this book, to compare Zola's shift from critiquing reality to imagining an ideal society.
Pay attention to the book's arguments about the organization of labor and social solidarity; supplement with sources on nineteenth-century European social thought.
Use the ebook's search function to mark recurring keywords and map out the author's core arguments.
If English is difficult, read a Chinese translation or related criticism first, then return to the English original for comparison.

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

How does this book relate to Zola's Germinal?

Both books deal with labor and the condition of workers, but Germinal depicts the suffering of miners in a naturalist mode, while this book belongs to Zola's later "Four Gospels" and focuses more on social reform and utopian visions. Reading them together reveals the evolution of Zola's thought.

Is this edition in Chinese or English?

This is a public-domain English-language ebook released by Project Gutenberg; the language is English, not a Chinese translation. Chinese readers will need some English reading ability, or should use it alongside a Chinese translation and critical materials.

Can I read it without having read other works by Zola?

Yes, but the book is heavily argumentative and idealistic, with less plot than Zola's major works. Reading Germinal first or familiarizing yourself with Zola's naturalist background will make it easier to grasp the book's place in the author's thought.

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.