Émile Zola

[MJ]

Works (in French):

Contes à Ninon, (1864)
La Confession de Claude (1865)
Les Mystères de Marseille (1867)
Thérèse Raquin (1867)
Madeleine Férat (1868)
Nouveaux Contes à Ninon (1874)
Le Roman Experimental (1880)

Les Rougon-Macquart

La Fortune des Rougon (1871)
La Curée (1871–72)
Le Ventre de Paris (1873)
La Conquête de Plassans (1874)
La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret (1875)
Son Excellence Eugène Rougon (1876)
L'Assommoir (1877)
Une Page d'amour (1878)
Nana (1880)
Pot-Bouille (1882)
Au Bonheur des Dames (1883)
La Joie de vivre (1884)
Germinal (1885)
L'Œuvre (1886)
La Terre (1887)
Le Rêve (1888)
La Bête humaine (1890)
L'Argent (1891)
La Débâcle (1892)
Le Docteur Pascal (1893)

Les Trois Villes

Lourdes (1894)
Rome (1896)
Paris (1898)

Les Quatre Evangiles

Fécondité (1899)
Travail (1901)
Vérité (1903, published posthumously)
Justice (unfinished)

Works (in English):

Stories for Ninon (1864) [no English trans]
Claude's Confession (1865)
The Mysteries of Marseille (1867)
Thérèse Raquin (1867)
Madeleine Férat (1868)
New Stories for Ninon (1874) [no English trans]
The Experimental Novel (1880)

The Rougon-Macquart Cycle

The Fortune of the Rougons (1871)
The Kill (1871–72)
The Belly of Paris (1873)
The Conquest of Plassans (1874)
The Sin of Father Mouret or Abbé Mouret's Transgression (1875)
His Excellency Eugène Rougon (1876)
L'Assommoir or The Drinking Den (1877)
A Love Episode (1878)
Nana (1880)
Pot Luck (1882)
The Ladies' Paradise or The Ladies' Delight (1883)
The Joy of Life (1884)
Germinal (1885)
The Masterpiece (1886)
The Earth (1887)
The Dream (1888)
La Bête humaine or The Beast in Man (1890)
Money (1891)
The Debacle (1892)
Doctor Pascal (1893)

The Three Cities

Lourdes (1894)
Rome (1896)
Paris (1898)

The Four Gospels

Fruitfulness (1899)
Labour (1901)
Truth (1903, published posthumously) [no English trans?]
Justice (unfinished) [no English trans?]


Other Works in English:

The Attack on the Mill and Other Stories (OUP 1999)
The Dreyfus Affair: "J`Accuse" and Other Writings (Yale UP 1998)
For a Night of Love (Hesperus 2005, short stories, different publication to A Love Episode)
Four Short Stories: The Flood, the Miller's Daughter, Captain Burle, Death of Olivier Becaille (2007 Echo Library)

[Paquita Maria]

YEAH!

[Yolande]

I`ve jumped on the Zola wagon for completionism...

[MJ]

A lot of the later works are unreadable, or at least preachy and bloated. But I still hope to complete the Rougon-Macquart Cycle. Good luck! This is quite a punishing challenge to undertake.

[Yolande]

I want to read the Rougon-Macquart cycle and Thérèse Raquin. After that I'll see but so far that's it. I will be reading it in French to improve. I have tried to read other French novels but struggled to stay interested because of my lack of understanding the language. So at one point I started reading one of the books of the cycle and it just held my attention even though I don't know all the french. So for my french reading practise I will stay with Zola. By the time I finish I will probably be much closer to fluency! When I am fluent I will at some point reread them.

[Nate D]

Incidentally, Therese Raquin has been very loosely adapted into one of the best of the vampire movie wave of the last 10 years. It's so good that I'd actually really like to read that one especially.

[David]

There was a recent translation of his complete short stories in 3 volumes that include the stories for Ninon, I think they form volume 1.

[Jim]

David wrote: "There was a recent translation of his complete short stories in 3 volumes that include the stories for Ninon, I think they form volume 1."

Can you please add some information about the translation? Merci!

[David]

They were printed by the Zola society and edited by Stephen R Pastore who I believe is one of the world's leading exponents on Zola. There was originally supposed to be 4 volumes, so I don't know whether they finished it off in 3 volumes, or whether the project ran out of steam, or whether volume 4 is still to come, so I'm not sure if they are complete,
but since the first 3 volumes came out in pretty quick succesion in 2011, I don't think there will be a volume 4. I don't have the books on me at the moment, so I can't list the contents, but will try and get them up in the next couple of days. I'm pretty sure all 3 volumes are available at amazon,
if you want more info.

[Jim]

David wrote: "They were printed by the Zola society and edited by Stephen R Pastore who I believe is one of the world's leading exponents on Zola. There was originally supposed to be 4 volumes, so I don't know ..."

Thank you David! I'll hunt for them and see what I find.

[David]

Also, Alan Sutton published a translation of Truth in 1994. I know because I have it. I believe the translation, as with a number of Zola's later books, is by Zola himself. I couldn't say about Justice,
but I wouldn't be surprised if there are more recent translations of both these books. The Zola society have been translating most of his books lately, and there still may be more to come.

[Jim]

A link to their website with publication info:

http://emilezolasociety.org/


and the publisher site:

http://grandoakbooks.com/19thcentcont...

[David]

Thank you David! I'll hunt for them and see what I find.

Anyway, even if they aren't complete, you won't find any more comprehensive. I know when I bought them I compared them to the two short story collections of Zola I alreadty had. The Attack on the Mill and I forget the other one just now, and they all seemed to be included.

Oh! and by the way, one other thought. The one criticism I do have about them, is that I could find nowhere in the books that told you which collection the stories were originally from, so although I am quite sure th first volume comprises the Stories from Ninon, I cannot be 100% certain.

[MJ]

Wonderful, thanks for the info, David. Do you know if the quality of the translations is consistent? The book designs seem extremely pedestrian and photoshopped. Good that the work is being made available, though.

[David]

Contents for Volume 1
Introduction by Emily Pardoe
To Ninon
Simplice
The Ball-Program
She Who Loves Me
The Love-Fairy
The Thieves and the Ass
A Sister of the Poor
The Adventures of Big Sidoine and Little Mederic
Stories for Ninon II
To Ninon
A Bath
The Strawberries
Big Michu
The Fast
The Shoulders of the Marchioness
The Neighbor Jacques
The Paradise of Cats
Lili
The Legend of Little Cupid's Blue Mantle
The Blacksmith
The Slack Season
The Little Village
Souvenirs
Nantas

[David]

Contents for Volume 2
Introduction (same as Volume 1)
Priests and Sinners
Madame Neigeon
Shellfish for Monsieur Chabre
Angeline
How We Die
Jacques Dumour
The Attack on the Mill
Death by Advertising
Story of a Madman
A Flash in the Pan
The Miller's Daughter
Fair Exchange

[David]

Contents for Volume 3
Introduction by Mike Prendergast
For One Night of Love
Round Trip
Rentafoil
Three Wars
Captain Burle or The Honor of the Army
The Death of Oliver Becaille
The Spree at Coquevill
The Flood
The Four Days of Jean Gourdon

[David]

And finally, I quote the blurb on the back cover of all 3 volumes.

"For the first time a publisher has put together in one set all the stories that Emile Zola wrote over his illustrious career as France's leading novelist and as perhaps the most influential writer of the nineteenth century. With new translations by contemporary scholars and a collation designed by Zola himself, the complete set in four volumes, edited by Stephen R. Pastore, a leading authority in Zola scholarship will become the foundation of the study of Zola short fiction for years to come."

That's really all I can tell you. Note the bit about four volumes. The introduction also alludes to 4 volumes. Obviously, it was originally planned for 4 volumes, I don't know what happened. I can find nowhere where it attributes each story to it's translator. Maybe volume 4 was intending to do this.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

A few hours ago, I finished the final chapter in the final book of Les Rougon-Macquart. It is a fantabulous series. I don't know when I'll get to other Zola works, as I read these over the last 2 years, and I'm ready for something else for a bit. I will get to some of them, just when is not certain.

One quote from the final work regarding the family tree describes Zola's thrust in addition to the family chronicle:

And it is also a historical document, it relates the story of the Second Empire, from the coup d'etat to Sedan; for our family spring from the people, they spread themselves through the whole of contemporary society, invaded every place, impelled by their unbridled appetites, by that impulse, essentially modern, that eager desire that urges the lower classes to enjoyment, in their ascent through the social strata. We started, as I have said, from Plassans, and here we are now arrived once more at Plassans.

[Elizabeth]

Which is your favourite? Mine is L'Assomoir.

[MJ]

Congratulations on your Rougon-Macquart completion. Quite an achievement. I am with Elizabeth on the choice of favourite.

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

I think that is my favorite also, although I rated several others 5 stars as well. I was captivated by this series.

[David]

I haven't read much of Zola.
I read a few of his books a long time ago, but recently only two. Like always, I like to start at the beginning. So I read Claude's Confessions last year, and didn't like it at all. I had a lot of trouble getting through it. Just finished reading The Mysteries of Marseille which I found a lot better.
I gather that there are a lot of hints of the Zola to come in this one. I still have another two to go
Therese Raquin and Madeleine Ferat, before I even get up to the Rougoun Macquart series. I also intend to read his short stories, once I get through all of Henry James' short stories, but as I am only half way through volume two (of five), and I only one read one or two between other things for variety, this is a long time project that will take several years.