His Masterpiece by Émile Zola (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide

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Unlock the more straightforward side of His Masterpiece with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!

This engaging summary presents an analysis of His Masterpiece by Émile Zola, which follows the painter Claude Lantier as he struggles to gain recognition for his work in the face of an uncomprehending public, leading to the breakdown of his relationships and driving him to despair. The novel, which was inspired in large part by its author’s friendship with the Impressionist painter Paul Cézanne, is the fourteenth instalment of Les Rougon-Macquart, an ambitious cycle of 20 novels which tells the story of one extended family under the Second French Empire. Émile Zola was the leading figure of the literary school of naturalism, as well as an influential social thinker, and is now regarded as one of France’s greatest novelists.

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This in-depth and informative reading guide brings you:
• A complete plot summary
• Character studies
• Key themes and symbols
• Questions for further reflection

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• Language: English
• Publisher: BrightSummaries.com
• Release date: Aug 21, 2018
• ISBN: 9782808010771

Book preview

FRENCH WRITER AND JOURNALIST

Born in Paris in 1840.

Died in Paris in 1902.

Notable works:

Nana (1880), novel

The Ladies’ Paradise (1883), novel

Germinal (1885), novel

Émile Zola was one of the most celebrated novelists of 19th-century France. He is renowned in particular as the leading figure of naturalism, a literary movement which aimed to incorporate the latest scientific innovations of the era into works of fiction. In his novels, Zola introduces a hypothesis formed following real-life observation and then tests it through experimentation. This aesthetic is exemplified by the 20-novel Les Rougon-Macquart cycle, which was Zola’s most significant literary output and was hugely successful despite its many detractors.

Zola is also famous for the political stances he took, which often led to reprisals against him. The best-known of these incidents was his condemnation of the Dreyfus affair, when Zola wrote a public letter entitled J’accuse…! (I accuse, 1898) which made a significant contribution to the resolution of the affair and the eventual exoneration of Captain Dreyfus (1859-1935).

THE BIRTH OF A WORK OF ART

Genre: novel

Reference edition: Zola, É. (2009) His Masterpiece. Trans. Vizetelly, E.A. [Online]. Urbana: Project Gutenberg. [Accessed 26 June 2018]. Available from: <http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15900/15900-h/15900-h.htm>

1stedition: 1886

Themes: art, painting, death, immortality, Impressionism

His Masterpiece is the fourteenth instalment in Zola’s Les Rougon-Macquart series. In this novel, he seeks to portray the energy and passion that artists pour into their work, and celebrates the virtue of work and of artistic creation in particular, as they allow humanity to overcome the limitations of time and achieve immortality.

The novel’s protagonist, Claude Lantier, is a painter who rejects Romanticism and neoclassical conventions in favour of a style focused on realism and nature. However, he finds himself unable to produce a faithful depiction of reality, and