538 pages

English language

Published Jan. 5, 1998 by Oxford University Press.

OCLC Number:
40163726

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3 stars (1 review)

The thirteenth novel in Emile Zola's great Rougon-Macquart sequence, Germinal expresses outrage at the exploitation of the many by the few, but also shows humanity's capacity for compassion and hope.Etienne Lantier, an unemployed railway worker, is a clever but uneducated young man with a dangerous temper. Forced to take a back-breaking job at Le Voreux mine when he cannot get other work, he discovers that his fellow miners are ill, hungry, and in debt, unable to feed and clothe their families. When conditions in the mining community deteriorate even further, Lantier finds himself leading a strike that could mean starvation or salvation for all.

50 editions

Subjects

  • Coal mines and mining -- Fiction
  • Strikes and lockouts -- Fiction
  • Labor disputes -- Fiction
  • Coal miners -- Fiction
  • France -- Fiction

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