false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171251869m/92967.jpg 92967 76 Not realism, but filth; not crudity, but pornography, is how one contemporary critic described <i>L'Assommoir</i>. The seventh novel in Les Rougon-Macquart cycle, it is Zola's monumental natural and social history of a family under the Second Empire. The story of a good-hearted, but weak-willed and vulnerable laundress, L'Assommoir is widely regarded as Zola's masterpiece and was an immediate sensation, selling 50,000 copies within a year of its publication in 1877. This edition includes Zola's response to critics who denounced his work as immoral.<br><br>Written in gritty street language and unflinchingly portraying the darker side of French culture and society, <i>L'Assommoir</i> transcends Zola's stated intention to expose the powerful effects of heredity and environment on the human condition and, as Robin Buss writes in his Introduction, is marvelous, warm and human...with a tragic heroine who is among the most touching and credible creations in all the literature of the nineteenth century. 741363 1876 L'Assommoir (The Dram Shop) (Penguin Classics) total:528|5:214|4:202|3:76|2:26|1:10| 528 2168 809 41 5 0 false false Wed Jul 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 13 04:41:55 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 13 04:48:01 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 2 false false Mon Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Sun Jan 27 08:32:01 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 27 08:34:33 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Aug 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 25 21:32:50 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 18 23:31:02 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 14 18:04:16 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 30 08:34:45 -0700 2009
What continually brings me back to the Rougon-Macquart is its positivist insistence that we can figure out precisely how society functions and malfunctions. "If we can just record what happens in enoug...more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon Jul 09 12:46:21 -0700 2007 Sat Aug 11 22:35:09 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Jun 07 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 15 08:15:46 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 15 08:37:51 -0700 2008
"It's all very well not ...more...]]> 5 0 false true Thu Jun 11 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat May 02 20:13:47 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 11 19:42:30 -0700 2009
This gets hailed critically as successful *despite* its social and moral aims. That view represents a fairly bullshit way to read a book (albeit a pretty common one). F...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Apr 26 03:33:22 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 26 03:35:45 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Jan 16 09:41:11 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 16 09:41:11 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Feb 02 13:57:52 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 02 14:31:10 -0800 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Wed Jan 07 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Thu Apr 03 11:38:39 -0700 2008 Thu Apr 03 11:38:39 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Tue Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Mon Mar 26 19:05:33 -0700 2007 Thu Mar 29 06:22:22 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Nov 23 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Thu Jun 18 19:36:22 -0700 2009 Mon Nov 23 20:26:49 -0800 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Tue Mar 10 20:56:51 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 08 08:22:54 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jan 04 22:15:54 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 04 22:24:15 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Wed Apr 29 05:23:03 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 11 10:20:51 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 29 05:23:03 -0700 2009 5 1 false false Tue Jan 22 22:24:08 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 22 22:55:41 -0800 2008 Their story is also an excuse for Zola to wit...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat May 10 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 09 11:11:03 -0700 2007 Fri Jun 27 08:12:32 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1988 Wed Jul 08 03:40:12 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 08 03:42:55 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Mon Sep 07 22:56:09 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 16 21:50:46 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 07 22:56:09 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=92967