The Drinking Den (Penguin Classics)

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Para ser mi primer acercamiento a Zola ha sido mucho mejor de lo que esperaba, y sobre todo porque tenía el temor, en principio, de que fuera una lectura densa o que la forma de escribir del autor representara un obstáculo inicial. En absoluto lo es, de hecho, leer a Flaubert o a Balzac fue más complicado para mí que leer a Zola. Yes,it was definitely open 88/89. I think you are right that it was the Kings cross fire that hastened its closure. Despite them serving the best pint of Guinness I have ever had in this country, it was often a fairly grim experience, smoke filled and flooded toilets. Tredicesimo se si decide (come nel nostro GdL) di seguire l’ordine di lettura indicato dallo stesso Zola. En fin, me dije ayer por la noche que leería una hora máximo, me faltaban cuatro capítulos y comencé a leer a las 11 p.m. y bueno, me dieron las 12 y la 1 y las 2 y las 3 (cálmate Joaquín Sabina), y cuando menos me di cuenta ya eran las 4 a.m. y había terminado la novela. ¿Valió la pena? Valió cada maldito segundo.

Incidentally, the toilets of the modern Betjeman Arms pub in St Pancras station are apparently, a converted broom cupboard.Dio mio! Io non sono ambiziosa, non pretendo molto... Il mio ideale sarebbe lavorare tranquillamente, avere sempre un pezzo di pane da mangiare, un buco pulito dove dormire, con un letto, un tavolo, due sedie, nulla di più... Ah! Vorrei anche allevare i miei bambini, e farne bravi cittadini, se fosse possibile... Ho un altro ideale: non vorrei essere picchiata, se per caso mi rimettessi con qualcuno... No, non mi piacerebbe proprio essere picchiata... È tutto qua, vedete bene, è tutto qua...». - - Traduzione di Luisa Collodi - Edizione Newton Compton) Como es natural, cuando se decae hasta el extremo, desaparece todo el orgullo de la mujer. Había perdido su antigua dignidad, sus coqueterías, sus necesidades de sentimientos, de conveniencias y de consideraciones." As such, there is still one pub left, which can be reasonably considered to be “on the London Underground”, and that is at Kew Gardens, although you have to go outside the station to get into the pub, which has windows right next to the platform. Does anyone remember in the 60’s a restaurant that was quite classy inside Baker Street Station. I used to take my little brother in there for soup or an omelette after shopping. It was such an integral part of the station that it must still be there , probably under a different name . Very swish inside.

Let’s pause here to reflect on the response of these men and women to the art on display. Is there anything unusual or unexpected in way they interact with the sculptures and paintings? Not really; seeing the ancient art of Assyria as ugly is understandable – they want to see pleasing images, not half-human grotesques. Also, understandable is their focus on the artists copying the great masterpieces rather than the masterpieces themselves – the process of creation is fascinating. Lastly, their visceral reaction to the racy country fête of Ruben is predicable, especially the men enjoying the coarse, sexy details. All this to say, in Zola’s view, members of the lower classes can appreciate art as that art relates to their own lives. True, their viewing isn’t the disinterested objectivity of a refined aesthete or knowing eye of an art historian but that’s no reason to discount the way they value art and make art a part of their lives. I can't help noticing, though, that there is no overt politics in this book: workers accept their places in the social hierarchy without agitating (though my understanding is that this theme is displaced to Germinal) which leaves us with an over-riding sense of hopelessness. And their cruel childhood is shown in later books to play out in the lives of Gervaise's children: Claude ( The Masterpiece), Etienne ( Germinal), and Nana ( Nana, which I'll be reading soon). Zola retrospectively added Jacques, the protagonist of La Bête Humaine, to the family.

Abandoned by her lover and left to bring up their two children alone, Gervaise Macquart has to fight to earn an honest living. When she accepts the marriage proposal of Monsieur Coupeau, it seems as though she is on the path to a decent, respectable life at last. But with her husband's drinking and the unexpected appearance of a figure from her past, Gervaise's plans begin to unravel tragically

And of course the big revelation is that their daughter Nana becomes a dancer in the famed, and naughty Folies show. She dumps her cruel parents for her new life entertaining men. This follows in the famous Zola book, Nana.Me ha fascinado, de principio a fin: no es la historia de una taberna, sino de todo un barrio parisino. La scena si apre con un’attesa: la giovane Gervaise affacciata alla finestra di uno squallido albergo di Parigi aspetta il ritorno di Lantier, il padre dei suoi figli, l’uomo che l’ha convinta a lasciare Plassans (il paese di origine dei due rami Rougon-Maquart) per andare incontro alla fortuna che li stava aspettando a Parigi. Set in the taverns of Paris, this is perhaps the first classical tragedy of working-class people living in the slums of a city. The Drinking Den (1877) is part of the Rougon-Macquart series, a naturalistic history of two branches of a family traced through several generations. Zola's work was influenced by contemporary theories of heredity and experimental science, and the behaviour of the two families is shown to be conditioned by environment and inherited characteristics, chiefly drunkenness and mental instability. Read more Details Zola, entiendo que las clases obreras se te echasen encima cuando salió publicada esta novela. Cuando no se tienen pelos en la lengua, los demás se hacen los ofendidos diciendo que todo son mentiras. Yo, sin embargo, te doy las gracias de corazón por haber escrito esto. Pubblicato nel 1876, settimo del ciclo dei Rougon-Macquart. “L’Assomoir” è un termine argot dal doppio significato"bettola" e "mazzata".