The Beast WithinA superb new translation of one of the most intense and explicit works of the nineteenth-century French master Émile Zola considered The Beast Within-also known as La Bête Humaine-to be his "most finely worked" novel. This new translation finally captures his fast- paced yet deliberately dispassionate style. Set at the end of the Second Empire, when French society seemed to be hurtling into the future like the new railways and locomotives it was building, The Beast Within is at once a tale of murder, passion, and possession and a compassionate study of individuals derailed by the burden of inherited evil. In it, Zola expresses the hope that human nature evolves through education but warns that the beast within continues to lurk beneath the veneer of technological progress. |
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arms asked Aunt Phasie Barentin Bête humaine Cabuche carriage compartment couldn’t coupé crime Croix-de-Maufras dark Dauvergne Doinville door driver Émile Zola everything eyes face feel felt Flore footplate francs front Gare Saint-Lazare Grandmorin hands happened Havre head heard husband Jacques Jacques’s kill kiss knew knife La Bête humaine Lachesnaye Lantier Le Havre leave Les Rougon-Macquart Lison locomotive looked Louisette Madame Bonnehon Madame Lebleu Madame Victoire Malaunay minute Misard Monsieur Camy-Lamotte Monsieur Dabadie Monsieur Denizet morning moved murder never night novel o’clock other’s Paris passengers past Pecqueux Philomène platform railway line Roubaud Rouen round Second Empire seemed Séverine Séverine’s silence sleep snow someone standing station stationmaster stood stopped suddenly tell there’s Thérèse Raquin things thought told train trying tunnel turned waiting walked wanted watch What’s whistle wife window woman Zola Zola’s