'It was the time when the rush for spoils filled a corner of the forest with the yelping of hounds, the cracking of whips, the flaring of torches.
The appetites let loose were satisfied at last, shamelessly, amid the sound of crumbling neighbourhoods and fortunes made in six months.
The city had become an orgy of gold and women.'
The Kill (La Curée) is the second volume in Zola's great cycle of twenty novels, Les Rougon-Macquart, and the first to establish Paris - the capital of modernity - as the centre of Zola's narrative world.
Conceived as a representation of the uncontrollable 'appetites' unleashed by the Second Empire (1852-70) and the transformation of the city by Baron Haussmann, the novel combines into a single, powerful vision the twin themes of lust for money and lust for pleasure. The all-pervading promiscuity of the new Paris is reflected in the dissolute and frenetic lives of an unscrupulous property speculator, Saccard, his neurotic wife Renée, and her dandified lover, Saccard's son Maxime.
ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
By:
Émile Zola Translated by:
Brian Nelson (Professor of French Studies Monash University Melbourne) Imprint: Worlds Classics Country of Publication: United Kingdom Dimensions:
Height: 195mm,
Width: 129mm,
Spine: 15mm
Weight: 222g ISBN:9780199536924 ISBN 10: 0199536929 Series:Oxford World's Classics Pages: 320 Publication Date:01 August 2008 Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format:Paperback Publisher's Status: Active
Reviews for The Kill
`This new version is welcome.' Times Literary Supplement
