Therese Raquin - Softcover

Bell, Neal; Zola, Emile

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0881455474 ISBN 13: 9780881455472

Publisher: Broadway Play Publishing, Incorporated, 2016

Synopsis

The story of a young woman forced into an unhappy marriage to her dull, sickly cousin and smothered by her overbearing aunt. When her husband's childhood friend enters her life, it leads Thérèse into a torrid affair that sets her spirit free for the first time but with shattering consequences. Steeped in the atmosphere of 19th-century France with a darkly rich foreboding."... Zola allows no rest from the pervasive gloom and neither does Neal Bell in his ambitious, intelligent adaptation. Bell stimulates both our voyeurism and our moral sensibilities, and he honors Zola's exquisite sense of cultural detail ..." -Carol Burbank, Chicago Reader "Neal Bell's exciting new adaptation, from the novel, keeps the grit and erotic animality, but throws out the cumbersome apparatus, letting the sordid story breathe and compressing it into a series of tight, poetically written short scenes, using the grotesque tiny details to imply feelings and situations in vivid shorthand: Naturalism as haiku." -Michael Feingold, The Village Voice "Naturalism and expressionism collide with shattering effectiveness in THÉRÈSE RAQUIN. Emile Zola's seminal work of naturalistic fiction caused an international scandal when published in 1867. Zola's blunt, unprettified representation of the most sordid elements of life - infidelity, murder, madness and suicide - seemed revolutionary in the context of his time. Especially remarkable was Zola's gritty portrayal of his eponymous central character Therese, a brilliantly radical departure from the simpering female prototypes of Victorian convention. Playwright Neal Bell's expressionistic adaptation of Zola's masterwork is both allusive and bold. Bell, who understands that less is more, tersely renders a psychological suspense story that keeps us on the edge of our seats." -F Kathleen Foley, The Los Angeles Times

About this title

From the Back Cover:

'Therese Raquin' is a clinically observed, sinister tale of adultery and murder among the lower orders in nineteenth-century Paris. Zola's dispassionate dissection of the motivations of his characters, mere 'human beasts' who kill in order to satisfy their lust, is much more than an atmospheric Second Empire period-piece. 'Therese Raquin' stands as a key early manifesto of the French Naturalist movement, of which Zola was the founding father. Even today, this novel has lost none of its power to shock.

About the Author:

The most prominent French novelist of the late 19th century, critic, and chief advocate of the famous French Naturalism movement. Zola wrote about 60 works of fiction, criticism, and philosophy, out of which the famous ones include Les Rougon-Macquart (1852 - 1870), Le roman experimental (The Experimental Novel, 1893), Les romanciers naturalists (The Naturalist Novelists; 1881), I accuse (I accuse; 1898), and Verit (Truth; 1903). Zola's works depicts his up-front expose of social bias, his staunch vindication of the subjugated, and his firm conviction in the betterment of the human stipulation through exclusive and communal action.

About this edition

• Publisher: Broadway Play Publishing, Incorporated
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0881455474
• ISBN 13: 9780881455472
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 94