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A Zola Dictionary; the Characters of the Rougon-Macquart Novels of Emile Zola
This volume was published in 1912 and also has a biographical
and critical introduction, synopses of the plots, bibliographical
note, map, genealogy, etc.
A 4-STAR
stbalbach - - December 15, 2008
List of characters for Emile Zola novels
`A Zola Dictionary`, first published in 1912, is still in re-print (on Amazon) as of this review. The bulk of the dictionary is an alphabetical list of every character from the 20 Rougon-Macquart novels with a sentence to paragraph long description. The books sub-title says it also "a biographical and critical introduction, synopses of the plots, bibliographical note, map, genealogy, etc." although these are somewhat brief in comparison to the character list at the heart of the book.
I find keeping track of the 100's of characters in each of Zola's novels difficult, they are non-English names that don't "stick" and are easily confused between similar sounding names, and many characters have more than one name depending on family relations. Even the primary characters have complex histories that it is helpful to have a summary for. Zola wrote "crowded novels" with characters showing up only once or twice. It's easy to skip over them if you don't remember who they are, perhaps briefly introduced 200 pages back and mentioned only once again, they are not central to the plot, but one misses the depth of Zola's intent.
`A Zola Dictionary` is the only comprehensive list of characters I have found. It is so comprehensive, for `La Terre` ("The Earth"), it contains the name of every cow, plus 4 or 5 historical brigands mentioned only once in passing - it seems as if every name has an entry. The downside is they are all listed alphabetically in one giant list without regard to which novel they are from (although this is noted at the end of each description) - so it's a chore to search the dictionary looking up a name - it would be better to have a single-page reference list of all characters within a particular novel to avoid page flipping through the dictionary. To that end I created such a list for `La Terre` and posted it on the web with descriptions extracted from this dictionary (see link below). Another problem is it contains serious and unnecessary plot spoilers. However, the plot spoilers are towards the end of each entry, so if one is in the middle of reading the novel and want a reminder of who a character is, just read the first sentence or two of the entry (this is not always easy!). Finally, the descriptions were written with the values of a Victorian moralist and will occasionally be laughable to the modern reader. I found this to be a bonus in helping understand the perspective of the age and what the English censors were so concerned about. For example in `La Terre`, a novel which contains incest as a central plot device, it is never mentioned in the dictionary at all, presumably bowdlerized from the English translations of the day.
List of characters in La Terre, extracted from `A Zola Dictionary` into a single page, with an optional no-Spoiler version.
and critical introduction, synopses of the plots, bibliographical
note, map, genealogy, etc.
A 4-STAR
stbalbach - - December 15, 2008
List of characters for Emile Zola novels
`A Zola Dictionary`, first published in 1912, is still in re-print (on Amazon) as of this review. The bulk of the dictionary is an alphabetical list of every character from the 20 Rougon-Macquart novels with a sentence to paragraph long description. The books sub-title says it also "a biographical and critical introduction, synopses of the plots, bibliographical note, map, genealogy, etc." although these are somewhat brief in comparison to the character list at the heart of the book.
I find keeping track of the 100's of characters in each of Zola's novels difficult, they are non-English names that don't "stick" and are easily confused between similar sounding names, and many characters have more than one name depending on family relations. Even the primary characters have complex histories that it is helpful to have a summary for. Zola wrote "crowded novels" with characters showing up only once or twice. It's easy to skip over them if you don't remember who they are, perhaps briefly introduced 200 pages back and mentioned only once again, they are not central to the plot, but one misses the depth of Zola's intent.
`A Zola Dictionary` is the only comprehensive list of characters I have found. It is so comprehensive, for `La Terre` ("The Earth"), it contains the name of every cow, plus 4 or 5 historical brigands mentioned only once in passing - it seems as if every name has an entry. The downside is they are all listed alphabetically in one giant list without regard to which novel they are from (although this is noted at the end of each description) - so it's a chore to search the dictionary looking up a name - it would be better to have a single-page reference list of all characters within a particular novel to avoid page flipping through the dictionary. To that end I created such a list for `La Terre` and posted it on the web with descriptions extracted from this dictionary (see link below). Another problem is it contains serious and unnecessary plot spoilers. However, the plot spoilers are towards the end of each entry, so if one is in the middle of reading the novel and want a reminder of who a character is, just read the first sentence or two of the entry (this is not always easy!). Finally, the descriptions were written with the values of a Victorian moralist and will occasionally be laughable to the modern reader. I found this to be a bonus in helping understand the perspective of the age and what the English censors were so concerned about. For example in `La Terre`, a novel which contains incest as a central plot device, it is never mentioned in the dictionary at all, presumably bowdlerized from the English translations of the day.
List of characters in La Terre, extracted from `A Zola Dictionary` into a single page, with an optional no-Spoiler version.
298 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1912
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30 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 4, 2019
The skeleton key to the sprawling Rougon-Macquart novels of Emile Zola.
I've read three or four of the twenty novels and think I might take a stab at going completist. Getting organized, I purchased the guide to the Characters, a standard edition by JG Patterson. Next step: what order to read them in? It is not at all settled what should be read first...
Per Wikipedia, here is the Canon, cited in the order of its Publication:
1. La Fortune des Rougon (1871)
2. La Curée (1871–2)
3. Le Ventre de Paris (1873)
4. La Conquête de Plassans (1874)
5. La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret (1875)
6. Son Excellence Eugène Rougon (1876)
7. L'Assommoir (1877)
8. Une page d'amour (1878)
9. Nana (1880)
10. Pot-Bouille (1882)
11. Au Bonheur des Dames (1883)
12. La joie de vivre (1884)
13. Germinal (1885)
14. L'Œuvre (1886)
15. La Terre (1887)
16. Le Rêve (1888)
17. La Bête humaine (1890)
18. L'Argent (1891)
19. La Débâcle (1892)
20. Le Docteur Pascal (1893)
But there are other, more internally chronological or just more coherent orders, readily available online. Looks like either way I start with La Fortune des Rougon, so that will be the start. But even before that: as I can't read French, which translations?
This will be a large undertaking, but no pressure, I seem to have the rest of my life to undertake the mission. If there was a perfect hardback set of the volumes, I'd buy it, but I don't see it out there. No ebooks or kindle version, I think. Got the character map in hand, at least.
I've read three or four of the twenty novels and think I might take a stab at going completist. Getting organized, I purchased the guide to the Characters, a standard edition by JG Patterson. Next step: what order to read them in? It is not at all settled what should be read first...
Per Wikipedia, here is the Canon, cited in the order of its Publication:
1. La Fortune des Rougon (1871)
2. La Curée (1871–2)
3. Le Ventre de Paris (1873)
4. La Conquête de Plassans (1874)
5. La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret (1875)
6. Son Excellence Eugène Rougon (1876)
7. L'Assommoir (1877)
8. Une page d'amour (1878)
9. Nana (1880)
10. Pot-Bouille (1882)
11. Au Bonheur des Dames (1883)
12. La joie de vivre (1884)
13. Germinal (1885)
14. L'Œuvre (1886)
15. La Terre (1887)
16. Le Rêve (1888)
17. La Bête humaine (1890)
18. L'Argent (1891)
19. La Débâcle (1892)
20. Le Docteur Pascal (1893)
But there are other, more internally chronological or just more coherent orders, readily available online. Looks like either way I start with La Fortune des Rougon, so that will be the start. But even before that: as I can't read French, which translations?
This will be a large undertaking, but no pressure, I seem to have the rest of my life to undertake the mission. If there was a perfect hardback set of the volumes, I'd buy it, but I don't see it out there. No ebooks or kindle version, I think. Got the character map in hand, at least.
August 4, 2019
(5 stars if I were the kind of person who gave 5 stars more regularly.)
Zola's Rougon-Macquart series has 20 novels, takes place over 25 years, and features at least 1,200 characters! This book from 1912 catalogues them all (including the occasional non-human) with brief biographies. A great supplement to the series - and available for free online these days, of course.
I assume it's accurate - although I note that the English translations available in 1912 were often censored and bowdlerised all over the place. So perhaps it's time for someone to update it. (I'm not offering. Well, maybe I am.)
Zola's Rougon-Macquart series has 20 novels, takes place over 25 years, and features at least 1,200 characters! This book from 1912 catalogues them all (including the occasional non-human) with brief biographies. A great supplement to the series - and available for free online these days, of course.
I assume it's accurate - although I note that the English translations available in 1912 were often censored and bowdlerised all over the place. So perhaps it's time for someone to update it. (I'm not offering. Well, maybe I am.)
Want to read
February 15, 2014Free download available at Project Gutenberg.
October 1, 2011
I'm still reading through A Zola Dictionary; the Characters of the Rougon-Macquart Novels of Emile Zola. An excellent companion to his works.
April 6, 2011
I do like all things Zola. This is a nice reference book to remind one of how it all fits together (when it does fit together).
It has me warmed up to dive back into the saga. I was suprised how many of the books I have already read.
It has me warmed up to dive back into the saga. I was suprised how many of the books I have already read.
September 26, 2011
This was sort of weird. I love the Rougon-MacQuart novels - but a dictionary that lists the names of cows and horses as characters seems a little obsessive?
Want to read
February 13, 2013ebook
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews