num_pages: 441
description: Previously published as L'assommoir ("The Dram Shop"), Emile Zola's "The Drinking Den" is an unflinching study of a desperate young woman struggling against the ravages of vice. This "Penguin Classics" edition is translated from the French with an introduction by Robin Buss. Abandoned by her lover and left to bring up their two children alone, Gervaise Macquart has to fight to earn an honest living. When she accepts the marriage proposal of Monsieur Coupeau, it seems as though she is on the path to a decent, respectable life at last. But with her husband's drinking and the unexpected appearance of a figure from her past, Gervaise's plans begin to unravel tragically. "The Drinking Den" caused a sensation when it was first published, with its gritty depiction of the poverty and squalor, slums and drinking houses of the Parisian underclass. The seventh novel in Zola's great Rougon-Macquart cycle, it was the work that made his reputation. And, in his moving portrayal of Gervaise's struggle for happiness, Zola created one of the most sympathetic heroines in nineteenth-century literature. Robin Buss' translation renders Zola's street argot into clear, contemporary English. This edition also includes an introduction discussing Zola's Naturalistic method, with maps of Paris, Zola's preface responding to his critics, notes, a chronology and further reading. Emile Zola (1840-1902) was the leading figure in the French school of naturalistic fiction. His principal work, Les Rougon-Macquart, is a panorama of mid-19th century French life, in a cycle of 20 novels which Zola wrote over a period of 22 years, including "Au Bonheur des Dames" (1883), "The Beast Within" (1890), "Nana" (1880), and "The Drinking Den" (1877)
language: English
title: The Drinking Den
titlecomplete: The Drinking Den
characters: Étienne Lantier, Auguste Lantier, Coupeau, Goujet, Virginie Poisson, Gervaise Macquart, Nana Coupeau, Claude Lantier
genres: Classics, France, Roman, Novels, School, Historical Fiction, Literature, French Literature, Fiction, 19th Century
ratings_count: 16125
places: France, Paris
series: Les Rougon-Macquart
publisher: Penguin Classics