Germinal (novel)

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Title page of the French edition from 1885
Advertisement for Germinal in Gil Blas magazine dated November 25, 1884

Germinal , published in 1885, is the main work of Émile Zola's twenty-volume work The Life of the Rougon-Macquart Family . It describes the inhumane conditions in French mines in the 19th century.

The novel illuminates the conflicts that arise not only between rich and poor, but also between the various attempts to create fairer conditions. Some of the miners are in favor of a strike , others are trying to reach an agreement and negotiate with the mine owners.

action

The protagonist of the plot is the machinist Etienne Lantier, the son of the laundress Gervaise Coupeau, who in turn is the protagonist of the novel The Blackjack . He had to leave Lille because of disrespect for his employer and comes to the miners' settlement of the “Le Voreux” mine in search of work. Here he finds accommodation with the Maheu family, in whose eldest daughter Catherine he falls in love, and new work in the coal mine of Voreux.

Outraged by the inhuman living conditions and enthusiastic about the idea of socialism , he incites the desperate miners' families into an uprising, which initially also succeeds: the workers go on strike , which is not supported by the workers in other mines. The living conditions of the workers deteriorate drastically as they are no longer paid at all. The army of angry workers from Le Voreux destroyed the coal mine "Jean Bart", shortly afterwards the greedy grocer Maigrat, threatened by the crowd, had a fatal accident when he fell from the roof. When the mining companies bring Belgian workers to repair the pits and the indignant workers want to take action, the military intervenes. There is a shooting with dead and injured. Hunger and desperation eventually lead them to return to work for even lower wages. Etienne also gives in after he has become a persona non grata with the starved comrades .

On the very day the rueful resumption of work, however, the Le Voreux shaft was sabotaged by the anarchist Suwarin, which resulted in its inundation and even collapse. About 20 workers are buried, including Etienne, Catherine and their lover Chaval. A tunnel is dug to rescue those trapped, but it only reaches them when Etienne killed Catherine's lover out of jealousy and she herself starved to death. Etienne leaves Voreux after his rescue, still convinced of the final victory of socialism .

characters

  • Étienne Lantier main character in the novel.
  • Toussaint Maheu Hauer on Le Voreux. A hardworking and courageous worker, respected for his common sense. Come to appreciate Étienne and take him into his home and work group.
  • La Maheude (Mrs. Maheu) His wife. Hardworking, brave and of common sense. Mother of seven children. She is particularly enthusiastic about Étienne's portrayals of a future, ideal society.
  • Zacharie Maheu Elder child of the Maheus. At the time of the story 21 years old. Lover and later husband of Philomène Levaque, with whom he has two children. A "blagueur" (joker) who doesn't seem to take anything seriously, but in the end does everything to save his sister Catherine.
  • Catherine Maheu Second child of Maheus. At the time of the story 15 years old. Smuggler (herscheuse). A quiet sufferer.
  • Jeanlin Maheu Third child of the Maheus. 11 years old at the time of the story. A mean boy. Despises his two "friends", Lydie and Bébert, who see him as the "capitaine", and takes advantage of them. He kills Jules "because he wanted to".
  • Alzire Maheu Fourth child of the Maheus. At the time of the story 9 years old. Hunched and too small for her age. Has to help her mother around the house. When the mother mentions her dead children again at the end, she cries only at the mention of Alzire.
  • Other children of Maheus Lénore (6 years), Henri (4 years) and Estelle (still an infant).
  • Bonnemort Actually Vincent Maheu, father of Toussaint Maheu. At the time of the story 58 years old, former tusker. Has a chronic cough that produces a black mass. The nickname Bonnemort ("Beautiful Death") has been given to him "so that one can laugh about it" (pour rire) because he almost died in the mine three times. The name can also be understood as an allusion to the way in which he kills Cécile at the end of the story without being punished because he is obviously no longer sane.
  • Nicolas Maheu father of Bonnemort. Only mentioned at the beginning of the summary of the family history that Bonnemort gives to the newcomer Étienne.
  • Guillaume Maheu father of Nicolas, thus great-grandfather of Toussaint Maheu. As a fifteen-year-old boy, over 100 years before the time of history, he was the first to find the coal of the now closed Réquillart colliery. The veine (coal vein) Guillaume, in which the buried victims are at the end, is named after him.
  • Levaque neighbors of the Maheu family, parents of Zacharie's wife Philomène and Jeanlin's friend Bébert
  • Bouteloup lodger of the Levaque family and lovers of the Levaque
  • La Pierronne (Mrs. Pierron) most beautiful woman in the colliery settlement. She is Pierron's second wife and the lover of Obersteigers Dansaert.
  • Pierron Pierronne's husband, father of Jeanlin's friend Lydie. A submissive character, full of fear of the company.
  • La Brûlé mother of Pierronne. She hates the company since her husband died underground.
  • Chaval Eitler and brutal miner who beats his lover Catherine Maheu and jealously supervises.
  • Mouque father of Mouquet and the Mouquette
  • Mouquet ("Little Mouque") friend of Zacharie Maheu and like him referred to as "blagueur" (jester)
  • Mouquette ("Little Mouque") female tractor (herscheuse). Has many loves, including Étienne
  • Bataille Old horse, which at the time of history has been living underground for 10 years, and whose longing for the sun and the grass is almost humanly described.
  • La Compagnie Entirely Compagnie des mines de Montsou (Mining Company of Montsou), a corporation founded 106 years before the time of history, managed by an anonymous "Régie" (management)
  • Dansaert Obersteiger . Pierronne's lover.
  • Deneulin has sold his inherited share in the company and invested the proceeds in his Jean-Bart colliery. He stands for the small capitalists who are still close to their workers and who are being crushed by the big corporations. His two daughters, Jeanne and Lucie, lost their mother at an early age. The younger, Jeanne, 18 years old, dreams of painting, Lucie, 22 years old, dreams of becoming a theater singer.
  • Hennebeau As general manager, local representative of the company, uncle of Paul Négrel. Weak personality. Despised and betrayed by his wife.
  • Léon Grégoire shareholder of the company. Lives the easy life of rich idlers with his wife and their beloved only daughter Cécile. Believes himself charitable for giving handouts to workers from time to time. He does not want to sell the shares inherited from his great-grandfather, he assumes that the children of his daughter Cécile will still benefit from them. Besides Toussaint Maheu, the only one whose family history can be traced back to the time of the great-grandfather. But while the "miner dynasty" Maheu "is too fruitful" (trop féconde; final chapter), the Grégoires have no future after Cecile's death.
  • Paul Négrel nephew of Hennebeau. Mine engineer for the company and fiancé of Cécile Grégoire. Lover of Madame Hennebeau. Ambitious and arrogant towards the workers, he shows his courage at the end of the disaster and carefully leads the rescue operation. He and the rescued Etienne embrace.
  • Jules The "little soldier" (petit soldat) from Plogoff in Brittany. Étienne tries to talk to him one night and later happens to witness Jeanlin murdering him.
  • Maigrat grocer who takes advantage of female customers to request sexual favors.
  • Pluchart socialist, regional representative of the International
  • Widow Désir landlady of Bon-Joyeux
  • Rasseneur Former miner, sacked because of his socialist ideas. At the time of history, host of the Avantage. Is jealous of Étienne's leadership role.
  • Souvarine (Suwarin) Russian revolutionary who fled to France. In the sense of nihilism, he dreams of a great destruction, after which everything will be rebuilt. His only affection seems to be for the Pologne hare. In the end it triggers the collapse of the colliery through sabotage.

origin of the name

Germinal is the name of the month of the French revolutionary calendar, which roughly corresponds to April, and means germinal month . Only in the last paragraph of the novel is it explained that the rebellion of the lower classes of the population now resembles a germ that penetrates from the earth.

classification

Germinal is considered a key work of European naturalism at the end of the 19th century. Because of the very realistically portrayed conflicts, the novel is more than a testimony to inhumane working conditions and the human indifference of those who benefit from them.

The industrialization has brought rapid changes with it. Men, women and children work under difficult conditions in the coal mines. The impoverishment of entire strata of the population is becoming a source of increasing unrest. The protagonist calls for resistance against this exploitation and wins supporters among his fellow sufferers.

Zola had worked with miners for months before he wrote the novel , presumably under the influence of the violently suppressed miners' strike in Anzin . He vividly shows the desperate situation of the miners and avoids any black and white painting. He neither idealizes the workers nor demonizes the haves. Rather, the novel describes in detail the moral decline on both sides. Zola interprets it as a consequence of social misery. The successful connection of individual fates with the economic and social situation makes the novel an impressive literary testimony to the early industrialization, it became a beacon of a new epoch of the epic.

reception

Germinal was included in the ZEIT library of 100 books .

Film adaptations

The novel has been filmed several times, including by Albert Capellani as a silent film in 1913, by Yves Allégret in 1963 and by John Davies as a multi-part series for the BBC in 1970. The last film was made in 1993 by Claude Berri , see Germinal (1993) .

literature

expenditure

Interpretations and explanations

Audio

Web links

Wikisource: Germinal  - Sources and full texts (French)

notes

  1. ↑ Complete works
  2. ↑ overw. in French. For more Velcro issues, also through Ader, see below
  3. ↑ similar to the Klett edition, but there are additions for German pupils or teachers, especially foreword, vocabulary in the appendix
  4. ↑ 288 pages. Despite the subtitle with the full text; additional explanations, background material and tasks in French. (these are the "Extraits")
  5. ↑ previous processing v. Marie-Odile André, from 1991, ISBN 2218035421 . Like all volumes in the series: short excerpts (10), each explained or supplemented with material or with "plan rédigé"
  6. ↑ The original has been shortened by around a third, with abstracts replacing the omissions. Presumably unknown vocabulary is translated at the bottom of each page. In the appendix there are texts by Zola on his theory of romance, as well as a "vocabulaire de la mine" for easier reading. The book is available in 2 different cover versions
  7. ↑ Original text, shortened by about a third, with annotations and additional material. With the thematic vocabulary "Le vocabulaire de la mine ". Table of contents by the German National Library
  8. ↑ Free access with customer data from most public libraries in Germany