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Germinal

Pages
617
Published
1993
Language
English

Synopsis

In 19th-century France, an unemployed man named Etienne Lantier takes a dangerous job in a coal mine. He quickly sees the harsh realities faced by the miners: poverty, illness, and exploitation. When conditions worsen, Lantier becomes a leader in a strike that could change everything for the community.

About the author

É
Émile Zola

Emile Zola was a French journalist and novelist known for his series of 20 novels known collectively as Les Rougon-Macquart (1871-93). Zola's style was called literary naturalism; his novels were attacked and even banned for their frankness and sordid detail, and caused quite a bit of controversy in their day. The same traits made him a best-selling author and a star of French literature in his day. In 1898 he then further incurred the wrath of French officials when he published the open letter...

Characters

Etienne LantierProtagonist
All characters in Germinal