- Paperback: 478 pages
- Publisher: Wordsworth Classics (July 1 2007)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1840226188
- ISBN-13: 978-1840226188
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.4 x 2.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 322 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #635,392 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Product Description
Germinal (1885) is the thirteenth in Emile Zola's cycle of twenty novels about the Rougon-Macquart dynasty. It tells the story of Etienne Lantier, from the illegitimate Macquart branch of the family, who arrives in the mining settlement of Montsou, and witnesses at first hand the appalling conditions in which miners live and work. Gradually becoming embroiled in a bitter dispute between the miners and their employers, he eventually leads the strike which is the centrepiece of the novel. But this is more than the struggle of labour against capital. It is also the struggle of the hungry against the well-fed, against the passivity and resignation passed down over generations of starving people, and ultimately against hunger itself, represented by the fantastical devouring monster of the mine, which swallows up men, just as the beast of the modern industrial economy relentlessly swallows up capital. This apparent pessimism about society is offset by the possibility of rebirth and regeneration. For all the inherited misery of the downtrodden, the old order may some day be overturned.
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5.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Changed my view of human society., Jan 7 2011
By Jae Woo In "jaein" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Germinal (Paperback)
Admittedly, I only read this book in college because it was a reading assignment in a humanities class, but it changed my life. I am forever grateful that I read this book. I had never before considered the power of a company over its employees until I had read this book. Granted, this book is a work of fiction, but many of the details about the living conditions of the miners are true. If you doubt this, please investigate for yourself. Also, this book is not completely one sided for the main protagonist does nothing to further the cause of socialism for at the end of the story, it clearly depicts his willingness to sacrifice the lives of others to further the cause of the greater good. But who can say that their own version of "good" should be the only version of the "good". Read this book, it will make you think!
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