Nana (Penguin Classics)
by Émile Zola
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Book Summary Information
Author: Émile ZolaIntroduction: George Holden
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1972-09-30
ISBN: 0140442634
Number of pages: 480
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Book Reviews of Nana (Penguin Classics)
Book Review: "Unsurpassable... Straight out of Babylon!"
Summary: 5 Stars
This was my first Zola novel, and I'm glad I started here. Considering that Zola is the French writer famous for advocating a new literary style - which he called naturalism - to address heavy issues such as war ("the Debacle"), labor strife ("Germinal"), murder ("the Beast Within"), I was surprised at the light comic touch in much of "Nana." In the guise of a bedroom farce, this book is a critique of the hedonistic world of late 1860s Paris. At the start of the story, the voluptuous and audacious Nana creates a stir in her theatrical debut as Blond Venus, but it is in her real-life role as Paris' most sought after "high-class tart" that she achieves her greatest fame. A cross-section of male society (everyone from a love-sick teenager to an aged marquis), falls for Nana, and her admirers even bump into each other at the doorway of her boudoir as her busy schedule sometimes creates awkward conflicts. "The bedroom was being made into a public right of way," Zola tells us. Nana's antics often had me chuckling in disbelief at her chutzpah and ruthlessness as she discarded one beau after another (after spending all of their money): "A ruined man dropped through her fingers like a ripe fruit, to rot quietly on the ground, by himself."
But there is a lot more going on than Nana's prurient misadventures. Zola's goal was to create an accurate and comprehensive picture of people and society in "Nana" and in the 19 other novels that comprised his Rougon-Macquart cycle. In doing so, he picked up the torch from his literary forefather Honore de Balzac, who penned a similarly ambitious series he dubbed The Human Comedy more than 30 years earlier. Benefiting from Balzac's model and the advantage of writing at a later period, Zola was able to portray French society with unprecedented frankness and gritty attention to detail. Zola tells the story of Nana through a series of set pieces, each one representing a new phase of her "career." Zola introduces us to the theatre scene of Paris (Nana's actor cohorts are a riot); gatherings of high society in Paris' most upscale salons; a rowdy dinner party hosted by Nana; a high-stakes horse race (in which a horse named in Nana's honor is part of the lineup); we are even shown what may literature's first lesbian pick up bar/restaurant, where Nana meets a prostitute who becomes her only true love.
"Nana," published in 1880, is the ninth book in the Rougon-Macquart series. I enjoyed it so much that I purchased the novels that immediately preceded and followed it, "L'Assommoir" (about Nana's parents) and "Pot-Bouille" (about adultery and other goings on in an apartment building). Zola never bogs down the narrative with excessive background. In fact, all we need to know about Nana's family history is explained to us when she discovers a newspaper article written by a journalist acquaintance. Tellingly enough, Nana doesn't bother to read the snarky article (which informs us that her mother was a laundress and her father a drunk) but assumes it's favorable because of its impressive length.
In his preface to "L'Assommoir" Zola described that story as "morality in action," which pretty much sums up this novel as well. The conclusion is epic in scope, and it absolutely floored me. The great Gustave Flaubert was positively giddy with admiration for "Nana," particularly the ending: "Chapter 14, unsurpassable!... Yes!... Christ Almighty!... Incomparable!... Straight out of Babylon!"
You shouldn't need any higher recommendation to read "Nana" than that!
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