all good - while Germinal is perfect as a standalone, it’s also one of the later ones in the series. I’d also recomment La Terre (on the agricultural side with a big inheritance plot) and L’Assommoir (on alcoholism in poor urban families), two of my favourites.
Thanks! I’ve read and enjoyed The Earth; also interesting is The Ladies’ Paradise, which goes back to the early days of department-store capitalism (selling at a loss to put competitors out of business, return policies, working on commission, etc.). Too tired to say anything more intelligent about it at the moment. And though superficially sort of fun, the tv series really avoids touching on the dark side of consumerism, going into debt, etc.
I can never express enough love for the works of Zola!
I recently finished reading La Débâcle, but haven’t gotten to Germinal just yet.
all good - while Germinal is perfect as a standalone, it’s also one of the later ones in the series. I’d also recomment La Terre (on the agricultural side with a big inheritance plot) and L’Assommoir (on alcoholism in poor urban families), two of my favourites.
Thanks! I’ve read and enjoyed The Earth; also interesting is The Ladies’ Paradise, which goes back to the early days of department-store capitalism (selling at a loss to put competitors out of business, return policies, working on commission, etc.). Too tired to say anything more intelligent about it at the moment. And though superficially sort of fun, the tv series really avoids touching on the dark side of consumerism, going into debt, etc.