L'Assommoir
| Language | en |
|---|---|
| First published | 2006-04-27 |
| Rights | Public domain in the USA. |
| Gutenberg ID | #8600 |
Description
"L'Assommoir" by Émile Zola is a novel published in 1877. The seventh installment in Zola's Les Rougon-Macquart series, it follows Gervaise Macquart, a washerwoman in working-class Paris, as she struggles to build a life after being abandoned by her lover. What begins with hope and hard-won success gradually unravels through injury, idleness, and addiction. Zola's unflinching portrayal of alcoholism and poverty shocked nineteenth-century readers with its raw realism and authentic street language, sparking both acclaim and controversy. (This is an automatically generated summary.)