La Bete humaine — Emile Zola

La Bete humaine 1890 is one of Zolas most violent and explicit works On one level a tale of murder passion and possession it is also a compassionate study of individuals derailed by atavistic forces beyond their control Zola considered this his most finely worked novel and in it he powerfully evokes life at the end of the Second Empire in France where society seemed to be hurtling into the future like the new locomotives and railways it was building While expressing the hope that human nature evolves through education and gradually frees itself of the burden of inherited evil he is constantly reminding us that under the veneer of technological progress there remains always the beast within This new translation captures Zolas fast paced yet deliberately dispassionate style while the introduction and detailed notes place the novel in its social historical and literary context