num_pages: 538
description: Zola's masterpiece of working life, Germinal (1885), exposes the inhuman conditions of miners in northern France in the 1860s. By Zola's death in 1902 it had come to symbolize the call for freedom from oppression so forcefully that the crowd which gathered at his State funeral chanted"Germinal! Germinal!"While it is a dramatic novel of working life and everyday relationships, Germinal is also a complex novel of ideas, given fresh vigor and power in this new translation. It is also the thirteenth book in the Rougon-Macquart cycle, which celebrates its centenary in October 1993 with a new filmversion of Germinal starring Gerard Depardieu.
language: English
title: Germinal
titlecomplete: Germinal (Les Rougon-Macquart, #13)
characters: Deneulin, Madame Hennebeau, Souvarine, Toussaint Maheu, Jeanlin Maheu, Zacharie Maheu, Pluchart, Chaval, Cécile Grégoire, Madame Grégoire, Paul Négrel, Constance Maheude, Monsieur Hennebeau, Étienne Lantier, Catherine Maheu, Father Bonnemort, Monsieur Grégoire, Maigrat, Alzire Maheu, Léonore Maheu, Rasseneur
genres: Fiction, 19th Century, French Literature, Classics, France, Historical, Roman, Historical Fiction, Literature, Novels
ratings_count: 36389
series: Les Rougon-Macquart
publisher: Oxford University Press