Nana (World Literature Library)

Author: [French] émile Zola
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-07-01
Features: Nana is one of the five most famous long novels in the 20 naturalist family saga novels The Rougon-Macquart Family by the French literary giant and main advocate of naturalism, émile Zola. The novel depicts the rise and fall of a frivolous, extravagant, and wealthy young prostitute named Nana in her short life, providing a detailed portrayal of the incredible debauchery and decadent customs of the French upper class during the Second Empire. It foreshadows the decline and fall of the Second Empire. It is a typical experimental novel with significant cognitive value and artistic achievement, holding an important place in the history of French fiction. On April 5, 1981, the French newspaper Le Monde commented that Zola "very realistically depicted the tumultuous era of the 19th century, which has not aged, and the problems faced by the characters he portrayed are still the ones we encounter today." It is one of the 37 world literary masterpieces recommended to Chinese readers by Mao Dun. It is also one of the dozens of influential world classical masterpieces jointly recommended by renowned scholars such as Japanese City.