Earth
Quick Summary
Earth is a novel by Émile Zola, published in 1887 as part of his 20-novel series, the Rougon-Macquart cycle. This series chronicles the natural and social history of a family under the Second French Empire. Earth specifically focuses on the "sordid lust for land among the French peasantry". Zola's work is characterized by naturalism, a literary movement that sought to apply scientific principles to the study of human behavior, emphasizing the deterministic influences of heredity and environment. The novel, like others in the cycle, uses extensive documentation and vivid imagery to portray its subject matter.123
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Émile ZolaLife…portrait of peasant life in La Terre in 1887 led a group of five so-called disciples to repudiate Zola in a manifesto published in the important newspaper Le Figaro. His novel La Débâcle (1892), which was openly critical of the French army and government actions during the Franco-German War (1870–71),…
Read More…portrait of peasant life in La Terre in 1887 led a group of five so-called disciples to repudiate Zola in a manifesto published in the important newspaper Le Figaro. His novel La Débâcle (1892), which was openly critical of the French army and government actions during the Franco-German War (1870–71),…
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Émile ZolaLes Rougon-MacquartIn La Terre (1887; Earth) Zola breaks with the tradition of rustic, pastoral depictions of peasant life to show what he considered to be the sordid lust for land among the French peasantry. In La Bête humaine (1890; The Human Beast) he analyzes the hereditary urge to kill that…
Read MoreIn La Terre (1887; Earth) Zola breaks with the tradition of rustic, pastoral depictions of peasant life to show what he considered to be the sordid lust for land among the French peasantry. In La Bête humaine (1890; The Human Beast) he analyzes the hereditary urge to kill that…
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