Germinal - Emile Zola

...Paris.

" Germinal is the rising of the employees, the blow of shoulder given to the company, which cracks: in a word, the fight of the capital and work. It is there that is the importance of the book; I want it to be predicting the future, carrying the question, which will be the most significant question of the 20th century.
Thus, to establish this fight it is necessary I show on one hand the work, the coalminers of the ...
...perhaps more dramatic?" (...)
Germinal is a work of pity, and not a work of revolution. What I wanted, it is to shout to the happy people, the one who are the Masters: Take guard, look under ground, see these poor wretches who work and which suffers. It is perhaps still time to avoid the final catastrophes. But be quick to be right, otherwise here is the danger: the ground will open and the nations will be absorbed in one of the most ... more

Nighttime Etienne Lantier arrives in the North of France. It is after a crossing of the Hexagon that he poses his bag in Montsou. Seeking employment he profits from the death of a workman to take his place. His initiation in the world of the mine is done on the heap in company of Maheu and his children. After his first working day, he decides to remain. This decision is undoubtedly influenced by the attraction that he feels for Catherine, Maheu’s daughter. Little by little Etienne is accustomed to his work and becomes a skilful workman.

The misery, which prevails behind the novel, launches Etienne in great social speeches and, pushes him to write news for a paper under the influence of the foreman Pluchart. Among his initiatives, he creates a provident fund and multiplies the speeches, which accentuates his position of leader of the social movement.

A movement of strike takes form then and nothing else but that is into his mind. This strike causes damage in the close mines.
To face this strike, employers call upon the army to control it. The minors strikers are fired and Etienne, to escape an arrest, hides underground in the mine. However the movement does not attenuate therefore and now it is the women and the mothers, who take again the torch. With a strong will, the energy of despair, they prohibit the input of the mines and unfortunately belong to the first victims when the soldiers first fire. Maheu is also one of them.

The strike ends and the minors return to work. Among them: Etienne and Catherine. Arrived in the mine they are taken by water. They take refuge in an air pocket what enables them to survive a few days. Unfortunately Catherine dies whereas help arrives. Only survivor, Etienne is hospitalised a few weeks before heading back to Paris.

" Germinal is the rising of the employees, the blow of shoulder given to the company, which cracks: in a word, the fight of the capital and work. It is there that is the importance of the book; I want it to be predicting the future, carrying the question, which will be the most significant question of the 20th century.
Thus, to establish this fight it is necessary I show on one hand the work, the coalminers of the mine, and on the other hand the capital, the management, the owner. But two cases arise: will I take an owner who personifies in itself the capital, which would make the fight more direct and perhaps more dramatic?" (...)
Germinal is a work of pity, and not a work of revolution. What I wanted, it is to shout to the happy people, the one who are the Masters: Take guard, look under ground, see these poor wretches who work and which suffers. It is perhaps still time to avoid the final catastrophes. But be quick to be right, otherwise here is the danger: the ground will open and the nations will be absorbed in one of the most appalling upheavals of the history.
Yes, a cry of pity, a cry of justice, I do not want more. If the ground continues to crack, if tomorrow’s disasters announcements terrify the world, it means I will not have been heard."
Emile Zola, December 1885

It is very interesting to discover the different ways of living of miners and their social and working lives. We also see conditions of recruiting and working, the risks taken by employees and the true dangers of the job but also the eventual diseases that workers can catch. The conditions of lodging are also an interesting point and you can clearly see the bunch of minors is coordinated by the paternalism of the company. The promiscuity in which the minors live is quite real and shows the fine bond or even differences occurring among the nest.

The book reveals the origins of the strike and the major causes, how the mining company is intending to face it.
The policy of minors, what they want to get and how they want to lead the strike and make the management give them what they request. And the list goes on but it is amazing to read through Zola’s lines because you learn a lot about the mines and what it is really about.

A large novel on the world of the coalmines and on the family of the minors. During the period the novel (1840-1902) covers, the author revives to us the daily routine of this social class. The dramas, miseries of each one become collective from the promiscuity of the dwellings. Etienne Lantier is the one bringing the minors to the revolt and the strike and increases the security in the mines and praise for better working conditions.
A monument of the French literature. If the poor wretches cut through a path with the cinema and in all the Western culture, it is not by chance. It is a sublime novel. All the characters - and they are varied - have their moment of size, sacrifice, and transcendence. Hugo can see and show us the nobility in the man. Three volumes, it is long, but you would want to read them twice. There are certainly long digressions, but never length.
To read if you want to see the human being of another eye.
 

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