Classic Novels Library

Germinal

Germinal

by Zola, Émile, 1840-1902

BookID: 56528

Language:English

Translator:Ellis, Havelock, 1859-1939

Reading Level:Reading ease score: 78.9 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read.

Copyright Status:Public domain in the USA.

Coal miners -- FictionCoal mines and mining -- FictionPolitical fictionStrikes and lockouts -- Fiction

Description

"Germinal" by Émile Zola is a novel written between 1884 and 1885. Set in a northern French coal mining town during the 1860s, it follows young migrant worker Étienne Lantier as he arrives seeking work in the forbidding pits of Montsou. As brutal working conditions and desperate poverty push the miners toward breaking point, Étienne becomes an unlikely leader of a strike movement. This uncompromisingly harsh and realistic story explores the workers' struggle for survival, explosive riots, and personal entanglements against a backdrop of severe oppression. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Class:PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese

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