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Title: For a Night of Love by Emile Zola, A. N. Wilson ISBN: 1-84391-010-1 Publisher: Hesperus Press Pub. Date: March, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: "Destiny seemed to him illogical and unjust."
Comment: "For a Night of Love" contains three short stories by Emile Zola. The first two stories consider the questions--what is love worth? How far would you go for love? Would you be prepared to do anything asked to gain the love of someone? The first story "For a Night of Love" is the story of a young man, Julien, who leads a very dull and strictly regimented existence. One evening, he observes a beautiful young girl from his garret room. She is Therese, fresh out of a convent school, with "the appearance of a cruel queen." Over about a year's time, Julien imagines that he loves this young girl, and his entire existence becomes built around the hope that he may catch a glimpse of her as she leans out of her bedroom window. One night, she beckons to him, and asks him to help her cover up a crime. The story raises some interesting issues, and certainly shows how the idolized love object can topple overnight from a pedestal. The second story "Nantes" is the story of a young man who enters an arranged marriage. He can't believe his luck when he's approached to enter into a marriage of convenience with a wealthy young girl. The story illustrates that money doesn't always bring happiness, and sometimes doing everything to make someone love you, just isn't enough. The final story "Fasting" is more of a sketch than a short story--it's the glimpse into the mind of a spinster as she snoozes in and out of a church sermon.
I love Emile Zola novels, so I really couldn't pass this book up. But the short stories do not match the quality of Zola's novels. The first story--"For a Night of Love" almost had a fairy-tale quality to it, and when Julien discovers why the young woman beckons him, it's a fairy story gone wrong. The story "Nantes" could be worked into novel length, and "Fasting" really--while amusing--left me wishing to read more about these characters. I, therefore, rate this collection of stories with four stars when compared to Zola's other works. I'm glad these stories were resurrected, but there's nothing earth-shattering here--displacedhuman
Rating: 5
Summary: Three stories on the power of Love
Comment: Emile Zola is primarily known for his novels. Only one English language collection of Zola's short stories has been available prior to the publication of FOR A NIGHT OF LOVE. Ths is a set of 16 stories published by Oxford University Press under the title The Attack On The Mill And Other Stories.
This current collection brings together three stories that the editors claim have never before been published in English. All three have a romantic theme.
The first, For A Night Of Love, tells the story of a shy young postal worker who falls in love with his beautiful, rich, and haughty neighbor. She ignores him until one night when she needs his help. The story tells how far he will go for a night of love.
The second tale is of a young man, Nantas, who comes to Paris to make his fortune and falls in love with his landlord's daughter. She needs a favor from him, but disdains his love. He goes to extraordinary lengths to win her love, but will he succeed?
These two stories of male desire are followed by Fasting, a story in which Zola takes one of his pokes at the Catholic clergy. It portrays a rich woman's sexual daydreams as she sits in church listening to a sermon on fasting given by a gourmet priest .
All three stories are excellent at portraying 19th Century France and the people of this time. It is our good fortune that these three are now available in the English language. The Foreward gives some insight into Zola's writings and the Introduction some background on the stories. A good collection of stories from one of France's greatest writiers.
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Title: Memoirs of a Madman by Gustave Flaubert, Andrew Brown, Germaine Greer ISBN: 1843910004 Publisher: Hesperus Press Pub. Date: March, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Loveless Love by Luigi Pirandello, J. G. Nichols ISBN: 1843910225 Publisher: Hesperus Press Pub. Date: April, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Pot Luck: (Pot-Bouille) (Oxford World's Classics) by Emile Zola, Brian Nelson ISBN: 0192831798 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: April, 1999 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: On Wine and Hashish by Charles P. Baudelaire, Andrew Brown, Margaret Drabble ISBN: 1843910179 Publisher: Hesperus Press Pub. Date: April, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Germinal by Emile Zola, Leonard W. Tancock ISBN: 0140440453 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: November, 1954 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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