Nana

Author: (French) Zola, translated by Xu Hejin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: Nana is noticed by the manager of the entertainment theater, becomes the leading actress in "The Golden Venus," achieves great success, and men from Parisian high society are utterly captivated by her. She is successively supported by banker Steiner and Count de Muffat, the Queen's attendant, becoming a notorious socialite in Paris. She consumes the wealth of the men who pursue her, driving them to bankruptcy one by one, and some even lose their lives. In the end, she dies of smallpox, coinciding with the impending collapse of the Second Empire in the Franco-Prussian War. Meanwhile, Nana's rise and fall serve as a reflection of the corruption and decadence of the Second Empire's society.