Zest For Life
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Condition: Very Good. Jacket: Very good, minimal wear. Page Condition: Good. Markings: No markings visible. Binding: Tight and intact.
Zest for Life — originally published in French as La Joie de Vivre — is one of Émile Zola's most psychologically penetrating novels from his celebrated Rougon-Macquart cycle, translated here with elegance by Jean Stewart and prefaced by Angus Wilson. The novel chronicles the story of Pauline Quenu, a generous and selfless young woman who, upon inheriting a modest fortune, is taken in by the scheming Chanteau family on the Normandy coast. Through Pauline's quiet endurance against greed, illness, and romantic betrayal, Zola constructs a profound meditation on suffering, altruism, and the human will to persist. Written with the unflinching naturalism that defined his era, the narrative argues that true vitality is found not in pleasure or wealth, but in the capacity to give without expectation. A masterwork of 19th-century French literature, it stands as one of Zola's most intimate and emotionally resonant works.
Author: Émile Zola
Format: Hardback
Published: 1968, Elek Books
Genre: Classic fiction
Condition remarks:
Condition: Very Good. Jacket: Very good, minimal wear. Page Condition: Good. Markings: No markings visible. Binding: Tight and intact.
Zest for Life — originally published in French as La Joie de Vivre — is one of Émile Zola's most psychologically penetrating novels from his celebrated Rougon-Macquart cycle, translated here with elegance by Jean Stewart and prefaced by Angus Wilson. The novel chronicles the story of Pauline Quenu, a generous and selfless young woman who, upon inheriting a modest fortune, is taken in by the scheming Chanteau family on the Normandy coast. Through Pauline's quiet endurance against greed, illness, and romantic betrayal, Zola constructs a profound meditation on suffering, altruism, and the human will to persist. Written with the unflinching naturalism that defined his era, the narrative argues that true vitality is found not in pleasure or wealth, but in the capacity to give without expectation. A masterwork of 19th-century French literature, it stands as one of Zola's most intimate and emotionally resonant works.