The Drinking Den (Penguin Classics)

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From 1877 with the publication of L'Assommoir, Émile Zola became wealthy, he was better paid than Victor Hugo, for example. He became a figurehead among the literary bourgeoisie and organized cultural dinners with Guy de Maupassant, Joris-Karl Huysmans and other writers at his luxurious villa in Medan near Paris after 1880. Germinal in 1885, then the three 'cities', Lourdes in 1894, Rome in 1896 and Paris in 1897, established Zola as a successful author. In sottofondo l’epoca moderna che avanza: le macchine che soppiantano gli operai e la miseria che si affoga nei bicchierini di acquavite. I regularly frequented the bar on the Liverpool St Met line on the way home from work – when you were a child!!!

Some say this is the greatest novel in the series, I can see how it could be true, but it won't stop me from thoroughly enjoying every remaining novel of the series I've yet to read, of which the next will be Nana. At the heart of the novel is Gervaise, a young mother abandoned by her lover, who has to fight to earn an honest living as a laundress and starcher. Eventually she marries one Monsieur Coupeau and initially it appears life will be clean, decent and manageable, but her husband starts drinking and thus begins the family’s downward spiral. L’Assommoir translated as The Gin Palace or The Drinking Den or The Dram Shop caused an uproar when first published – too fierce, too brutal, too sordid. Completely unapologetic, Zola simply replied that he wrote about life as it is actually lived among the poor. although a pint at the destination after 40 minutes of another person’s headphones and smelly armpits is more likely to be necessary. 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. The Drinking Den caused a sensation when it was first published, with its gritty depiction of the poverty and squalor, slums and drinking houses of the Parisian underclass. The seventh novel in Zola's great Rougon-Macquart cycle, it was the work that made his reputation. And, in his moving portrayal of Gervaise's struggle for happiness, Zola created one of the most sympathetic heroines in nineteenth-century literature. Kew Gardens used to have two small bars. One rail-side and one land-side separated by the serving area.In fact, Spiers and Pond were the WH Smiths of refreshment rooms on the London Underground, having been there from the very start, and ending in 1932 with venues at: When people die in La Goutte d'Or, others just comment that it means one drunkard less in the world. and things get worse from there onward for the poor girl, but I do not have the heart (or the time) to type all that out too…)

Zola (1840-1902) was the leading figure in the French school of naturalistic fiction. His principal work, Les Rougon-Macquart, is a panorama of mid-19th century French life, in a cycle of 20 novels which Zola wrote over a period of 22 years. 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. Gervaise's story begins with her in tears, sitting at home late at night, watching her two little boys Claude and Etienne, four and eight years old, on a shared pillow. These are the future (anti-)heroes of The Masterpiece and of Germinal. Her first husband Lantier does not come home that night.If you enjoyed The Drinking Den, you might like Zola's The Beast Within, also available in Penguin Classics. Read more Details Cuántos sentimientos encontrados con esta novela... Empecé con risas, alucinando con la frescura y la sinceridad de Zola. Poco a poco, al irse desarrollando la historia y al ir conociendo a los personajes más profundamente, he sentido tristeza, lástima, dolor, enfado, piedad, ternura, ganas de llorar... En cuanto a personajes, no hay ninguno, y lo recalco muy bien, ni uno solo que sea posible de olvidar, o que sea fácilmente desechable. Zola crea personajes maravillosos, con características únicas, con sus demonios y con sus virtudes (aunque no todos las posean). En especial menciono tres (además de Gervaise) que se quedan conmigo: por un lado Goujet, que es el personaje al que más le tuve cariño después de la protagonista; es esa clase de mano amiga que cualquiera necesita en los momentos complicados. Por otro lado el tío Bru, un hombre que vive en la calle que te hace reflexionar mucho en cuanto sabes por qué se encuentra así, y por último, la pequeña Lallie, cuya historia es para mí de las más impactantes, la que nunca podré olvidar y la que me ha dejado una huella muy profunda (no miento si digo que la mayoría de las veces que lloré, que fueron muchas, fue debido a la situación de Lallie). C’est une œuvre de vérité, le premier roman sur le peuple, qui ne mente pas et qui ait l’odeur du peuple. »

Thus the sad downfall of a young, motivated, good-natured and hard-working woman takes its course. As Gervaise tells a friend, her working life began when she was ten years old and started washing clothes in a river in Provence. Moving on to live in the poor parts of Paris, she has to face the even harder challenge of a modern factory. The reader can only imagine the monstrous work environment and physical exhaustion she is exposed to, day after day, without losing hope. 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."

Gervaise es toda una heroína dentro de su propia historia, si bien cada quien podría juzgar sus decisiones y acciones de manera diferente; es posible que algunas veces se quisiera ser su apoyo, darle un abrazo para decirle que todo estará bien, y otras solamente ser un simple observador, pero más certeramente, uno desearía que los hechos siguieran un rumbo distinto, o al menos que no fueran tan radicales. Al final, Gervaise es de esos personajes que te marcan, y que al menos en mi caso, será muy difícil expulsar de mi mente. This book was number seventh in a series of twenty books that Zola wrote describing the lives of Parisians in the 1800s. For me it was a tough read (except for the food scenes). One could see how tough their circumstances were. In some ways, they wanted to emulate those with money but often there abilities were limited, or like this couple, debt crippled them. Ah sadly, not much has changed. 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. Step by step, she gives in to alcohol and hopelessness, slowly losing all sense of pride and humanity, only lamenting the fact that one can get used to almost anything except that one can't "prendre l'habitude de ne pas manger". Hunger is the only remaining feeling that tells her she is alive. But what kind of life is it?