Bete Humaine, La

by Émile Zola

Book Overview

One of Zola's most violent works, this novel is on one level a tale of murder and possession, and on another a compassionate study of individuals derailed by atavistic forces beyond their control. It evokes life at the end of the Second Empire in France, and a society hurtling towards the future.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140443274
• ISBN13: 9780140443271
• Release Date: August 1977
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 365 Pages
• Weight: 0.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.1" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 and higher

Customer Reviews

"Who could fathom the shadowy mind of the beast within?"

While this new translation of "La Bete Humaine" starts off a bite more melodramatic than some of Zola's other works, in the end the author succeeds in drawing the reader into a nightmarish world of infidelity, greed, abuse, murder and madness. This is a thought-provoking work - equal in many respects to "Crime and Punishment" - although at times Zola's depiction of blood lust and violence (especially violent acts committed against women) are hard to handle. Yet, however sensationalized or gratuitous the violence and depravity seems, I hope it is obvious that this is meant to be a social commentary rather than a celebration of certain kinds of reprehensible behavior. Another possible criticism is that there are too many ideas floating around in this novel - Zola in fact formed the plot by combining two separate story ideas into one book, which I think makes it less focused than some of his other works ("Germinal" or "L'Assommoir" for example) - and the author's ideas about heredity and crime seem less believable today than perhaps they would have to contemporary readers. Yet, these points aside, "The Beast Within" is still a fascinating read and a deeply unsettling look at the human condition.

A Victim of Beastly Instincts

There is something very profound in "La Bete Humaine/The Beast in Man", in spite of the fact that all of its characters have a very superficial mentality. Its scenes recreate very well the atmosphere of the late days of the Second Empire. Jacques Lantier is the main character, but the novel is not at all centered around him or his urge to kill women; only as late as chapter eight he attempts to commit a violent act and it is as late as chapter eleven that he does commit a violent act. The abundance of adultery, police incompetence, two single murders (chapters one and twelve), a multiple murder (chapter ten) both committed purely out of jealousy and an uxoricide committed out of greed all show the living environment and the morale of those days. Definitely, one of the major novels of the Rougon-Macquart series.

Tragic Grandeur

This is one of Zola's most violent and disturbing novels, but it possesses a kind of "tragic grandeur," to quote the translator, which makes it story and its characters live on in the mind long after the reader has turned the last page. Part crime thriller and partly a novel of railway life, it tells the story of a group of people who are slaves to their passions and whose ultimate doom is preordained by their backgrounds and temperaments. There are marvellous passages of descriptive writing and if you think that a novel about the railways is bound to be dull you will find yourself happily mistaken. The depiction of Jacques, genetically doomed to be a murderer, is more frightening than any Hannibal Lecter. Some modern readers may have difficulty empathising with Zola's ideological beliefs, but in the end the novel carries all before it. A shattering, truly memorable work of art, very well translated.

Modern intrigue + social commentary

This is, hands down, the most exciting of Zola's novels. It reads as quickly as any current novel on the best sellers' list, yet it contains all the elements we love about Zola, particularly his unique way of making social commentary the focal point of his novels. If you've never read Zola, I would recommend this book as your introduction into his world.

The runaway train on a one-way trip to nowhere

One of Zola's best and most famous works. There is something strangely fascinating about a murder where the killer escapes detection and punishment only to receive terminal treatment from another, totally unexpected source. When this happens twice in the same book, along with some tales of child abuse, a high-level cover-up, a sabotage attempt on a train in which virtually everyone is killed in the carnage except the persons targeted, a suicide, plus some assorted couplings outside of the marshalling yards, things get really interesting. What makes people commit such crimes? Here Zola really shows his skill in explaining his characters' motives and the dark, primeval forces that drive them. A pulsating, chilling story from beginning to end, full of unexpected twists, starting with the creation of a previously unknown member of the Macquart family as the novel's main character. Highly recommended for long train or air journeys.