| Details | | Publication Date: | 2009-05-12 | | Series: | Modern Library Classics |
| Size | | Length: | 328 pages | | Height: | 8.0 in | | Width: | 5.0 in | | Thickness: | 1.0 in | | Weight: | 9.9 oz |
Industry Reviews
"The novel appeal lies, of course, in Zola's descriptive brilliance, his ability to paint this brutal, teeming world of food with the confidence of a Dutch master. But the political conflict, personified by by scrawny Florent and the overfed shopkeepers, is artfully rendered as well."
New York Times Book Review - Suzanne Berne (03/10/1996)
"Although Zola was hardly alone in his literary engagement with the city's seamier aspects, few can rival his ability to convey the totality of an atmosphere--the sights, the sounds, and colors--while telling a story fraught with historical and emotional drama."
Boston Book Review - Erika Dreifus (04/19/1996)
"As usual, Zola dovetails a romantic view of self-destruction with specious scientific theories about biological determinism, yet at its best 'The Belly of Paris' transcends melodrama. Zola never condemns; his figures are tragedies of gross appetitie, and his kinetic prose lovingly recounts their fall into corruption and decay."
Marx
"The food markets of Les Halles--'The Belly of Paris'--are the backdrop of this novel, first published in 1873 as the third volume of Zola's 'Rougon- Marquart' series. Florent, near starvation after escaping from prison, makes his way to Paris and the district of Les Halles. There he is caught between the haves and the have-nots, the overfed and the starving; surrounded by plenty, he believes he has been called 'to avenge his leanness upon the city which wallowed in food while the upholders of right and equity were racked by hunger...' Zola , of course, resists no opportunity to describe the gustatory riches that torment his hero. Here are vegetable vendors' stalls at dawn: 'The end of the Rue Rambuteau was blocked by a barricade of orange-hued pumpkins, sprawling with swelling bellies in two superposed rows. And here and there gleamed the glistening ruddy brown of a hamper of onions, the blood-red crimson of a heap of tomatoes, the quiet yellow of a display of marrows, and the somber violet of the fruit of the eggplant; while numerous fat black radishes still left patches of gloom amidst the quivering brilliance of the general awakening.'"
Washington Post Book World (01/28/1996)
| See an error? Submit a change request |
All rights reserved.
