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 film version of Germinal starring Gerard Depardieu.
language: English
title: Germinal
titlecomplete: Germinal (Les Rougon-Macquart, #13)
characters: Deneulin, Étienne Lantier, Souvarine, Rasseneur, Zacharie Maheu, Cécile Grégoire, Madame Hennebeau, Catherine Maheu, Léonore Maheu, Monsieur Hennebeau, Jeanlin Maheu, Monsieur Grégoire, Madame Grégoire, Pluchart, Toussaint Maheu, Chaval, Father Bonnemort, Paul Négrel, Constance Maheude, Maigrat, Alzire Maheu
genres: Classics, France, Roman, Historical, Novels, Historical Fiction, Literature, French Literature, Fiction, 19th Century
ratings_count: 36381
series: Les Rougon-Macquart
publisher: Signet