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La Curée (Les Rougon-Macquart #2)

3.81 of 5 stars 3.81 · rating details · 859 ratings · 56 reviews

A la fin d’une chasse, pendant la curée, les chiens dévorent les entrailles de la bête tuée. Pour le jeune Zola, qui déteste son époque, c’est le cœur de Paris, entaillé par les larges avenues de Napoléon III, que des spéculateurs véreux s’arrachent. Ce deuxième volume des Rougon-Macquart, histoire naturelle et sociale d’une famille sous le Second Empire, est l’un des plus...more

Paperback, 412 pages

Published January 10th 1984 by Livre de Poche (first published 1872)

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Mar 24, 2013 Mary Soderstrom rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As Cyprus trembles on the brink of financial disaster (or so we're told) I find myself reflecting on how we got here, how in 2008 the bottom fell out of the housing bubbles all over the world. The financial problems that followed have been disastrous for millions of people, and frequently the "fix" proposed has been all wrong, if we are to believe Paul Krugman, Nobel laureat for economics.

This is not the first financial collapse, of course. My parents lived through the Great Depression and were...more As Cyprus trembles on the brink of financial disaster (or so we're told) I find myself reflecting on how we got here, how in 2008 the bottom fell out of the housing bubbles all over the world. The financial problems that followed have been disastrous for millions of people, and frequently the "fix" proposed has been all wrong, if we are to believe Paul Krugman, Nobel laureat for economics.

This is not the first financial collapse, of course. My parents lived through the Great Depression and were deeply marked by it But there was another one before that in 1873, that was even worse. For anyone who'd like to know how we got in our current situation, a novel written by Emile Zola about the 1873 bubble and crash is a great and informative read.

The book is called The Kill (La Curée in French, both terms referring to the frenzy that comes at the end of a hunt.) I read it in the summer of 2007 while researching my book The Walkable City: From Haussmann’s Boulevards to Jane Jacobs’ Streets and Beyond. At the time I was struck by how much Aristide Saccard, the developer at the heart of the novel, resembled people involved in cities today.

According to Zola’s story, Saccard made a fortune in the Haussmannian re-building of Paris in the 1860s and early 1870s. How like the people behind development all over North America and Europe, buliding condos and houses and office buildings everywhere, I thought when I first read it

But I didn't realize how apt the comparison was until the fall of 2008 when Scott Reynolds Nelson's “The Real Great Depression” was ublished in The Chronicle Review. When the bubble burst the depression which followed the 1873 Crash lasted four years in North America and seven years in Europe, he says.

Real estate speculation, shaky financial arrangements, unsecured loans and most of all greed were behind that crash. “Land values seemed to climb and climb; borrowers ravenously assumed more and more credit, using unbuilt or half-built houses as collateral. The most marvelous spots for sightseers in the (Paris, Berlin and Vienna) today are the magisterial buildings erected in the so-called founder period.” (The photo was taken during the construction of the Opera Garnier in 1866.)

Zola's novel, the second in his multiple volume history of the Rougon-Macquart family, is full of iintrigue and sex as well as real estate--in fact it is so steamy that it was censored in France after its publication, and wasn't translated into English for nearly 50 years because it was considered just too hot.

A great read! And I can't think of a recent novel that tells as much about our times as this does about its.(less)

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Jan 17, 2013 Softymel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Après avoir réussi à détourner la révolution à leur avantage dans La fortune des Rougons, les enfants de Pierre Rougon sont maintenant montés à Paris chercher la fortune.
On les retrouve ici fidèles à eux-même, toujours à la recherche d'un évènement à exploiter pour réussir à amasser toujours plus d'argent pour l'un, et plus de pouvoir pour l'autre.

On se retrouve bercé dans un monde où le luxe déborde de tout côté, et où les magouilles d'Aristide Saccard coulent à flots!
Mais ce livre, c'est auss...more

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Jan 12, 2012 MJ Nicholls rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: pernod-and-gauloises, novels, pre-1900s, oxford-classics

If I had to sum up The Kill in one clause (and this clause is coming up now so get ready) I’d say it’s about Haussmannisation and incest. Baron Haussmann transformed Paris during the Second Empire—a period of absolutely fantastic debauchery—where francs flowed in the streets and enterprising capitalists were free to make a monetary killing. So we have Saccard, a heartless but forgiving cash-seeker interested in power and lucre, who marries into wealth to prevent a scandal. He marries Renée, a ca...more

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Mar 21, 2013 Lars Williams rated it 5 of 5 stars

The title is usually translated as 'The Kill', but 'La Curee' is a hunting term, describing the part of the animal fed to the hounds who have chased it to its death. In the preceding volume of the Rougon-Macquart cycle (by Zola's suggested reading order), 'Son Excellence Eugène Rougon', there is a brilliant scene where guests at the Emperor's country retreat watch by torchlight as the hunting dogs devour offal from a stag killed earlier, and the queasy atmosphere of this scene, the frenzy and bl...more The title is usually translated as 'The Kill', but 'La Curee' is a hunting term, describing the part of the animal fed to the hounds who have chased it to its death. In the preceding volume of the Rougon-Macquart cycle (by Zola's suggested reading order), 'Son Excellence Eugène Rougon', there is a brilliant scene where guests at the Emperor's country retreat watch by torchlight as the hunting dogs devour offal from a stag killed earlier, and the queasy atmosphere of this scene, the frenzy and bloodlust of the dogs laid on as a spectacle for the amusement of Parisian society, pervades 'La Curee'. To apply the hunting analogy to this book, the whole of Paris is the quarry, as the city is ripped apart by the massive rebuilding project undertaken by Haussmann for the glorification of the Napoleonic Empire. Property speculation is rife, and fortunes are made by corrupt and predatory financiers. This is raw capitalism at its most extreme, and the lust for money both corrupts and defines society. The massive building works reflect, but also serve to accelerate, changes to society - Haussmannization coincided with the advent of modernity, as old codes of morality, class barriers, even familial ties, were changed beyond recognition.

Aristide Saccard and his family serve as extreme examples of all these changes. Saccard has a lust for money as pure and uncomplicated as his brother Eugene's lust for power. His son, Maxime, embodies sexual ambiguity and dissolution. Renee, his second wife, becomes a victim of this decadent milieu of money and promiscuity. In a beautiful scene at the very end of the book, she returns to her childhood house in a solidly respectable enclave of old Paris, untouched by the rebuilding. She compares the glamour and excitement of the 'complicitous' modern city, the setting of her downfall, to the 'peaceful horizon of her childhood, this corner of a bourgeois and workmen's city, where she had dreamt of a life of peace and tranquility....'.

If this book were simply a disapproving morality tale then it would still be powerful, but what really elevates it is the sense that Zola is half in love with all these changes he ostensibly decries. The descriptions of the 'complicitous' city and its society crackle and fizz with energy and light. By contrast, the 'old' city, as represented by Renee's childhood house, is gloomy, dank and cold. The writing throughout is set at a pitch of almost hallucinatory intensity, reflecting the mad dynamism of the time. This is an intense read.

I read the 2004 Oxford World's Classics translation by Brian Nelson, which was excellent. This is the first English translation since A. Teixeira de Mattos's translation of 1895, which has been the standard text since then. The 1895 translation is in the public domain, and out of interest I compared it with the newer translation at several points. There was actually very little difference between the two - the Teixeira de Mattos reads amazingly well, compared to the Vizetelly translations from the same era. If only he'd translated the other ones...(less)

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Nov 14, 2011 Fabien rated it 3 of 5 stars

Il en ressort une impression en demi-teinte pour ce deuxième tome de la saga des Rougon-Macquart de Zola.

Dans la curée, on retrouve beaucoup d'ingrédients déjà présent dans le premier volume. Tout d'abord des personnages communs, mais cela est évident puisque nous allons suivre une dynastie. Ici c'est Aristide Rougon mais qui s'est auto-rebaptisé Saccard que nous retrouvons en haut de l'affiche avec quelques apparitions de Pierre, son frère. A cela on ajoute Maxime, son fils et Renée, sa femme....more Il en ressort une impression en demi-teinte pour ce deuxième tome de la saga des Rougon-Macquart de Zola.

Dans la curée, on retrouve beaucoup d'ingrédients déjà présent dans le premier volume. Tout d'abord des personnages communs, mais cela est évident puisque nous allons suivre une dynastie. Ici c'est Aristide Rougon mais qui s'est auto-rebaptisé Saccard que nous retrouvons en haut de l'affiche avec quelques apparitions de Pierre, son frère. A cela on ajoute Maxime, son fils et Renée, sa femme. On retrouve également une narration commune, puisque l'on commence le livre par ce qui est quasiment la fin de l'histoire, puis le roman explique la situation et conclut l'intrigue. Ensuite on retrouve une histoire d'amour impossible qui prend beaucoup plus de place que dans "la fortune" mais n'est guère plus intéressante. Et surtout on retrouve l'art des Rougon pour la "magouille" et des personnages globalement sans morale aucune... et c'est en ça que le livre est intéressant.

Car que veut un Rougon ? De l'argent. Et comment l'obtient-il ? En trafiquant plus ou moins habillement. En cela les générations se suivent et se ressemblent. Et c'est fascinant de voir avec quel cynisme les personnages vont manipuler les gens et les informations pour détourner de l'argent à leur profit. Le roman raconte comment Paris mû pour se barder de grandes artères, et comment certains vont profiter du chambardement immobilier. La curée est une vraie critique sociale de l'establishment et de la bourgeoisie parisienne, présentée comme une série de personnages immoraux et superficiels. Cette partie là du roman est un vrai plaisir, tant Zola décrit avec précision les magouilles, les rouages des détournements de fonds public, et les habitudes de cette société.

Mais c'est un vrai supplice que ces descriptions sans fin qui n'apportent rien au roman et rien à l'ambiance. Et cela dure... des pages et des pages... Et en plus c'est par cela que commence le livre, et c'est pour cela qu'il y a un an, je m'étais arrêté après 10 pages. Donc mon conseil, passez les descriptions et c'est un livre passionnant.

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Feb 23, 2013 Jason rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The second volume of Zola's 20-volume "Les Rougons-Macquart". This book focuses on the Rougon son Aristide, a corrupt financier in Paris, to a certain extent, but is much more about his son, Maxime and the incestuous relationship he pursues with his stepmother. This book is about much more than just that though: man encroaching on nature; the Hausmannization of Paris; capital and commerce and the literal demolition of the old world; the shady financial dealings of the Second Empire; and, of cour...more

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Nov 11, 2011 Oria rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Kill (published in 1871 under the title La Curée) is the second book in a series of twenty novels titled Les Rougon-Macquart. The books follow the lives of descendants of a family set on a background of French history. Banned upon publication, the book was translated several times and even made into a movie, The Game Is Over, starring Jane Fonda, in 1966.

The story begins in the Paris of the 1850’s. It is a time of quick money to be made, of speculations which could turn staggering profits, o...more The Kill (published in 1871 under the title La Curée) is the second book in a series of twenty novels titled Les Rougon-Macquart. The books follow the lives of descendants of a family set on a background of French history. Banned upon publication, the book was translated several times and even made into a movie, The Game Is Over, starring Jane Fonda, in 1966.

The story begins in the Paris of the 1850’s. It is a time of quick money to be made, of speculations which could turn staggering profits, of luxury, debauchery and gluttony. Every vice is exacerbated; love affairs are used to manipulate deals, while rivers of money pour into the houses of the rich who only think of spending them as quickly as possible. There’s an opulence which dazzles the eye and the people appear to be marionettes to be dressed in the finest, most daring and rich costumes. Indeed, the whole book gives the reader the impression of watching a great spectacle: here a socialite dresses up for a great ball, her clothes a triumph of French couture, there a speculator planning to get his hands in the next profitable business, or a lazy son whose main goal in life seems to be to drink from the cup of debauchery until the very last drop; a rush for pleasure, for aesthetic opulence, for money and more money to spend, for parties and gossip and the latest trend.
Paris seems to be a character in itself, pulsating with life, always changing, always on the move.

“The lovers were in love with the new Paris. They often dashed about the city by carriage, detouring down certain boulevards for which they felt a special affection. They took delight in the imposing houses with big carved doors and innumerable balconies emblazoned with names, signs, and company insignia in big gold letters. As their coupé sped along, they fondly gazed out upon the gray strips of sidewalk, broad and interminable, with their benches, colorful columns and skinny trees. The bright gap stretching all the way to the horizon, narrowing as it went and opening out onto a patch of empty blue sky; the uninterrupted double row of big stores with clerks smiling at their customers; the bustling streams of pedestrians – all this filled them little by little with a sense of absolute and total satisfaction, a feeling of perfection as they viewed the life of the street…They were constantly on the move…Each boulevard became but another corridor of their house.”

The book follows the life of three people: Aristide Saccard, his second wife Renée, and Maxime, his son from his first marriage.
Against this background of decadence, Renée’s life seems just another tiny spark lost in the crowd. Her marriage is merely a business transaction meant to save her reputation – she gets a husband and he gets the fortune he’d always dreamed of. Renée spends her days in frivolous pursuits which her husband finances while at the same time using her influence to increase his fortune. Fleeting between love affairs, bored with her life of leisure, she sets her eyes on her stepson, the young Maxime, and their incestuous relationship will cause her to oscillate between despair and happiness. Her fate brings to mind Flaubert’s Madame Bovary – however, Zola took things much further with vivid descriptions of sexual encounters, parties, and lavish dinners meant to intoxicate and stimulate the senses. Paris is a cauldron of desire always on the verge of boiling.

“She raised her head. The upper branches of the trees stood out against a clear sky, while the irregular line of houses blurred to the point where it resembled masses of rock jutting up along the shore of a bluish sea. But this strip of sky made her sadder still, and it was in the darkness of the boulevard that she found a certain consolation. What remained clinging to the deserted avenue of the evening’s noise and vice was her excuse. She could almost feel the heat of all the footsteps of all those men and women rising from the cooling sidewalk. The shame that had loitered there – the momentary lusts, the whispered offers, the one-night nuptials paid for in advance – evaporated, hovering in the air like a heavy mist roiled by the morning breezes. Leaning out over the darkness, she breathed in this shivering silence, this bedroom scent, as an encouragement that came to her from below, an assurance that her shame was shared and accepted by a complicit city.”

I found it best to savor the novel in small doses. The richness of the language, the obvious “moral hollowness” of the characters combined with the spectacular renderings of Paris made reading the story an interesting and enjoyable experience - a glimpse into the decadent life of the city in the 19th century.
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Jun 10, 2008 Taylor rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: français, 1800s

Favorite book of all time. The story of Renée and her step-son Maxime's affair is scandalous, and the way in which it is told is equally heady: a whirling, gilded, Champagne-drenched portrait of aristocratic life during Paris's Haussmann years.

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Mar 11, 2011 Leila rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was fascinating. At first the gawdy descriptions turned me off, very reminiscent of Huysmans(snooooooze). But ultimately Zola tells a much better story. About a quarter of the way into the book I was hooked. The incestuous affair is of course the main highlight, but no less captivating is the financial scheming of M. Saccard - he would not be out of place today. What I found most fascinating, and something that is frequently startling me with these older books I've read over the past y...more

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Apr 10, 2011 Call Me Ishmael rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

aristide rougon changes his name to saccard at the suggestion of his brother (the minister)Eugene. At the time of his second marriage, made to gain the cornerstone investment for his fortune after his first wife dies. He brings his metro-sexual son to live with his new wife, who's rape stained honor is restored with the marriage.

This is the story of avarice, lust in all fashion, driving the hedonist slightly made as they pursue amoral wickedness.

This tale could be told of any great financial bub...more

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Dec 04, 2010 Marko Sošić rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2010

A great novel, filled with images of wealth and excess, with several complex and detailed characters. It gives the picture of Paris at a peculiar point in the history of France. Having read Marx's 18te Brumaire des Louis Napoleon, Zola managed to deepen the overall impression of amorality and decay expressed in the Marx's explanation how the regime described came to power. A moving story, full of immoral, shady characters and those that are more difficult to classify but that are hauntingly well...more

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Jul 14, 2012 Jonathan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: french-connection

The Kill was the second book written in the Rougon-Macquart series. It is third book in Zola's proposed chronology and it's my twelfth book of the series. I'm now fully committed to reading all of the Rougon-Macquart books.

The Kill is about two topics - money and sex. And it is surprisingly frank about both. Saccard, aka Aristide Rougon is pretty ruthless in his pursuit of wealth, as are all the other characters in the book. Zola, as usual paints a realistic portrait of these characters. He does...more The Kill was the second book written in the Rougon-Macquart series. It is third book in Zola's proposed chronology and it's my twelfth book of the series. I'm now fully committed to reading all of the Rougon-Macquart books.

The Kill is about two topics - money and sex. And it is surprisingly frank about both. Saccard, aka Aristide Rougon is pretty ruthless in his pursuit of wealth, as are all the other characters in the book. Zola, as usual paints a realistic portrait of these characters. He doesn't have to resort to demonising them to make his point, he just describes their actions, feelings and desires and guides the reader to the conclusions rather than hitting the reader over the head with his views.

The topic of the semi-incestuous relationship between Saccard's son Maxime and his second wife, Renée must have been scandalous at the time of publication. The carefree sexual behaviour of the characters would probably be surprising to modern day readers even in a modern setting.

The Kill is not in the top league of Zola novels, however I haven't come across a bad one yet. The Kill was certainly an interesting read which contained much to appeal to fans of Zola. Particularly interesting was the opening scene depicting a traffic jam in Paris by the Bois de Boulogne. The end of the first chapter had another one of Zola's incredibly descriptive scenes where Renée is hiding in the hothouse watching Maxime and his fiancée. Zola describes the heady mixture of the smells of the plants and flowers together with the "penetrating, sensual smell of flesh".

In the penultimate chapter Zola describes a costume ball that the Saccards are holding. They're acting out a Greek drama. All the characters are there, the dramatist is fussing round everyone, the audience is getting slightly bored waiting for the play to begin. The play itself is mildly interesting, if somewhat baffling to most of the audience. Once it's over everyone heads for the buffet in a frenzied free-for-all...all decorum is put on hold. Once their appetites have been satisfied they embark on a riotous series of dances similar to a conga. Whilst this is going on Maxime is finally breaking off with Renée as his marriage is finally made official. Renée's life is falling apart amidst the decadent scenes of a riotous party - Brilliant! It's very cinematic.

So what are the downsides? First of all, the title of the Vizetelly translation, The Rush for the Spoil seems more appropriate although less catchy. Secondly, the last couple of sentences sort of ruin the book a bit - it's a typical nineteenth century way of wrapping up a story that Zola seems to just tack on to the end for form's sake. I suppose another criticism would be that it's all a bit predictable, at least to a modern reader. But most nineteenth century novels are predictable throughout. Zola was at least a daring writer who didn't mind trying something new. (less)

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May 11, 2013 William Dearth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: french

This is a very fast-paced book. It nearly gives the illusion of reading a summary. It offers sort of a conundrum to me in that it seems that it is full of details but leaves many things unexplained.

This is my fourth book in Zola's Rougon-Macquart twenty-volume series. It is not my favorite --that being "The Belly of Paris"-- but it is of major significance. It is historical fiction but mirrors the realities of Napoleon III's regime leading up to the fall of Paris in 1871. It contains all of the...more

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Jul 29, 2011 Esteban Gordon added it · review of another edition

Being the second foray into the Rougon-Macquart series, I was hoping for an improvement from the first - The Fortune of the Rougons, and I was not disappointed. This novel is filled with brilliant passages depicting the blood sucking primitive accumulation of a budding 19th century capitalist. Zola's use of nature and myth to deepen the tale of incestuous love was.... well done. Well done, indeed, sir.

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Mar 31, 2008 Tessa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fictive

Because I started this right after I abandoned Bel Canto, I kept comparing the two throughout, and thinking "this is how Patchett wanted to do it but failed." Zola appears to tell instead of show, but he's actually showing (ok, sometimes he tells, because this is a very well-written morality tale, and so he's got to wax on about the vileness of his characters a little bit). Maybe I found this book more satisfying because I am more ready to believe yearning but pathetic and "immoral" people inste...more

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Jul 26, 2011 Mttabor rated it 5 of 5 stars

This has to be one of my favorite 19th century novels. It has the lush, over-the-top descriptive voice of the period (your mileage may vary), but the story it tells of the city of Paris is absolutely fascinating. This book is about more than the decadent lives of the Saccards- it is about change and the circulation of capital in the city of the spectacle. I fully understand why David Harvey made so much reference to it in Paris: Capital of Modernity.

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Jun 24, 2011 Nick Park rated it 4 of 5 stars

Zola was an incredible author. Each book in his Rougon-MacQuart series deals with different subject matters, yet Zola handles each of them masterfully. This time he addresses the speculation and greed of the financial world, coupled with the amorality of the wealthy.
My only criticism would be that the story seemed to end rather abruptly.

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Dec 08, 2011 Capsguy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: french

Certainly not Zola's strongest, although it was one of his first, well definitely one of the first in the Rougan-Macquart series, in a time in which he was not yet an established writer.

It shows.

There is a significant amount of filler of over emphasis of descriptive languages of localities, specific objects, dress and the like. Although it doesn't detract from the story, it does get bothersome at times.

The story itself is typical Zola. Incest. Corruption. Plotting. It's all there. He certainly w...more

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Jun 16, 2010 Smtolkin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Reading this book does for Paris what Sinclair's The Jungle does for tinned meat. When you hear the evil behind how the city took its current gorgeous shape, it may not look so gorgeous anymore... but what glittering civilization wasn't built on rapacity and deception? A dark and exciting read. And SEXY.

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Jun 25, 2010 Matthew rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

French decadence, infidelity, and incest. This book is full of excess and scheming. Lovers are passed around like currency, and debauchery becomes commonplace. Zola’s portrait of Paris during the Second Empire is defined by indulgence.

It’s a novel about a city being reinvented. Everywhere houses are being torn down to make way for new thoroughfares and elaborate building projects while the government reimburses the owners for their losses—a system ripe with abuses as speculators purchase propert...more

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Jun 13, 2011 David rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: noirboiled

For those inclined to trace the origins of naturalistic crime fiction—a.k.a. noir—beyond Frank Norris’s McTeague (1899), the next logical stop is French naturalist Èmile Zola. The Kill (La Curée), the second in Zola’s twenty-volume cycle Les Rougon-Marcquart, traffics in familiar noir themes of uncontrolled greed and lust. The novel begins in medias res as we are plunged into the tacky decadence of the nouveau riche of the Second Empire, and then rewinds to show how the environment of Paris crea...more

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Apr 22, 2012 Yves rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: france, xixe-siècle

Ce roman de Zola raconte l'histoire d'amour entre Maxime Saccard et Renée, la femme de son père. Cette histoire se passe avec en arrière plan la spéculation immobilière dont s'adonne Aristide Saccard, le père de Maxime. Aristide essaie de profiter de sa position comme employé à la ville de Paris pour obtenir des informations sur les immeubles qui seront rachetés par la ville dans le but d'en améliorer sa beauté.

J'ai lu beaucoup de Zola et jusqu'à maintenant, La Curée est un de ceux que j'ai le m...more

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Jul 11, 2009 chris rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Orwell,in Down and Out, states when he is trying to describe his surroundings, that he wishes he had could do description like Zola.

Zola's descriptions of the Paris of Napoleon III are sensual, suffocating and vivid. I felt exhausted, enthralled and suprised - it reads as though
it was not written in 1871, rather the 1970s.

Well worth reading - I got into the story in the second part of the book.

Reminded me of Tender is the night, as the style is discriptive and it is the second part of the book...more

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Aug 13, 2011 Noémie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: school

Un roman très bien écrit et pensé. Chapitre mémorable de la description des plantes d'une serre, métaphore de la sensualité ou du désir ardent de la femme principale.

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Dec 11, 2012 Julian rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 19th-century, reviewed, french

It's typical Zola. The first half of the book is stronger than the second, which is unusual for Zola, because his works tend to get better as they go along. The character of Renee is well done, and the fact that her tragedy ends up being a farce is clever. The description of wild speculation in Paris is good, but I suspect that while I greatly enjoyed the novel it will not live in my imagination as some of the other works that I have read by Zola will. Probably only for the die hard Zola fan, wh...more

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Jan 14, 2013 Mark rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Finished another book in Emil Zola's 20 book epic series detailing the lives of the Rougin-Macquart family during France's Second Empire. It's a book filled with lust and longing. But, sex is not the only desire filled in this book. Greed, gluttony, and avarice all get sated. And innocence falls by the wayside as the revelers lie, cheat, and steal from everyone who gets in the way of ....... The Kill.

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Jan 31, 2010 Sharon rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: at-cal, in-french

This was part of the "Paris in Literature" course I took while in Paris. According to an essay for the class, this novel was about the Second Empire.

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Apr 05, 2012 César Lasso rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A good novelist, but I wouldn't get hooked on him. I read two of his novels quite in a row and I was beginning to get tired of him.

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Sep 19, 2012 O rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Review here.

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Feb 17, 2011 Marc rated it 4 of 5 stars

http://bibliotheca.skynetblogs.be/arc...

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About Émile Zola

Émile Zola was an influential French novelist, the most important example of the literary school of naturalism, and a major figure in the political liberalization of France.

More than half of Zola's novels were part of a set of 20 books collectively known as Les Rougon-Macquart. Unlike Balzac who in the midst of his literary career resynthesized his work into La Comédie Humaine, Zola from the start...more Émile Zola was an influential French novelist, the most important example of the literary school of naturalism, and a major figure in the political liberalization of France.

More than half of Zola's novels were part of a set of 20 books collectively known as Les Rougon-Macquart. Unlike Balzac who in the midst of his literary career resynthesized his work into La Comédie Humaine, Zola from the start at the age of 28 had thought of the complete layout of the series. Set in France's Second Empire, the series traces the "environmental" influences of violence, alcohol and prostitution which became more prevalent during the second wave of the Industrial Revolution. The series examines two branches of a family: the respectable (that is, legitimate) Rougons and the disreputable (illegitimate) Macquarts for five generations.

As he described his plans for the series, "I want to portray, at the outset of a century of liberty and truth, a family that cannot restrain itself in its rush to possess all the good things that progress is making available and is derailed by its own momentum, the fatal convulsions that accompany the birth of a new world."

Although Zola and Cézanne were friends from childhood, they broke in later life over Zola's fictionalized depiction of Cézanne and the Bohemian life of painters in his novel L'Œuvre (The Masterpiece, 1886).

From 1877 with the publication of l'Assommoir, Émile Zola became wealthy, he was better paid than Victor Hugo, for example. He became a figurehead among the literary bourgeoisie and organized cultural dinners with Guy de Maupassant, Joris-Karl Huysmans and other writers at his luxurious villa in Medan near Paris after 1880. Germinal in 1885, then the three 'cities', Lourdes in 1894, Rome in 1896 and Paris in 1897, established Zola as a successful author.

The self-proclaimed leader of French naturalism, Zola's works inspired operas such as those of Gustave Charpentier, notably Louise in the 1890s. His works, inspired by the concepts of heredity (Claude Bernard), social manichaeism and idealistic socialism, resonate with those of Nadar, Manet and subsequently Flaubert.

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Books by Émile Zola

L'Assommoir (The Dram Shop) (Les Rougon-Macquart, #7)

La Bête humaine (Les Rougon-Macquart, #17)

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Quotes from La Curée

“She [Sidonie Rougon] never spoke of her husband, nor of her childhood, her family, or her personal concerns. There was only one thing she never sold, and that was herself.” — 4 people liked it

“This was the time when the rush for the spoils filled a corner of the forest with the yelping of hounds, the cracking of whips, the flaring of torches. The appetites let loose were satisfied at last, shamelessly, amid the sound of crumbling neighbourhoods and fortunes made in six months. The city had become an orgy of gold and women.” — 2 people liked it

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/816918.La_Cur_e?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1356495973l/816918.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/816918.La_Cur_e?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]La Curée by Émile Zola[/url]

La Curée (Les Rougon-Macquart #2)

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