French literature of the 19th century

Have to agree with the many suggestions of Balzac, I think he was one of frances finest prose writers.

Of Balzac I would suggest Pere Goriot and Le Chef-d'oeuvre inconnu from Balzac's La Comédie Humaine.

La Peau de Chagrin - Balzac

Pure genius material!

Emil Zola's Nana, probably better than Bel Ami, and Gautier's Mademoiselle de Maupin, an 1835 novel which deals with crossdressing and homosexuality, rather taboo subjects for that date in time.

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Originally Posted by dfloyd

Emil Zola's Nana, probably better than Bel Ami, and Gautier's Mademoiselle de Maupin, an 1835 novel which deals with crossdressing and homosexuality, rather taboo subjects for that date in time.

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Personally, I would not say that Nana is probably better than Bel Ami. They are both marvellous books but, whereas Bel Ami is Maupassant's finest novel, Nana is not the best of Zola. We all have our favourites but, for my money, La Bete Humaine and Therese Raquin are as good as it gets among all of Zola's wonderful works.

so its probably personal opinion. Therese Raquin and Germinal are not among my favorites. Nana is because it's a portrait of the demimonde life which I find interesting, much more interesting than a murder and coal mining. That is also why I like Camille. The French courtesans of the 19th century led interesting, if not moral, lives. I believe a movie was made of Bel Ami with George Sanders, a cad in real life as well as on film. He also played Strickland, the fictional Paul Gauguin, in The Moon and Sixpence

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Originally Posted by dfloyd

so its probably personal opinion. Therese Raquin and Germinal are not among my favorites. Nana is because it's a portrait of the demimonde life which I find interesting, much more interesting than a murder and coal mining. That is also why I like Camille. The French courtesans of the 19th century led interesting, if not moral, lives. I believe a movie was made of Bel Ami with George Sanders, a cad in real life as well as on film. He also played Strickland, the fictional Paul Gauguin, in The Moon and Sixpence

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I agree that Zola's portrayal of the demi-monde is very convincing but it is only one facet of the life in 19th century France that is covered by the Rougon-Macquart series of novels. Each book deals with a particular activity, which together add up to a comprehensive picture of France during that time. That is why coal, the railways, farming, finance, politics, the military etc. are all present in the series. While some may be better than others, they are all marvellous works of literature.

I agree with Brian Bean; Nana is not my favorite work of Zola. I prefer "L'Œuvre", "Germinal", "La Terre" or really any of the other works that I have read in Les Rougon-Macquart.

Flaubert interests me, but I found his "Sentimental Education" to be quite boring next to "Madame Bovary".

I also just finished Balzac's "The Black Sheep" (La Rabouilleuse) and was delighted! I will definitely be reading more Balzac!