Book description
Born to drunken parents in the slums of Paris, Nana lives in squalor
until she is discovered at the Th tre des Vari t s. She soon rises from
the streets to set the city alight as the most famous high-class
prostitute of her day. Rich men, Comtes and Marquises fall at her feet,
great ladies try to emulate her appearance, lovers even kill themselves
for her. Nana's hedonistic appetite for luxury and decadent pleasures
knows no bounds - until, eventually, it consumes her. Nana provoked
outrage on its publication in 1880, with its heroine damned as 'the most
crude and bestial sort of whore', yes the language of the novel makes
Nana almost a mythical figure: a destructive force preying on a corrupt
society.
Emile 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.
George Holden is a known translator.
