The Masterpiece (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

By Émile Zola and Donna Campbell

This edition includes a modern introduction and a list of suggested further reading. Emile Zola's The Masterpiece (L'oeuvre) is the story of a young artist, Claude Lantier, and his struggle against the indifference and hostility of an ossified art world. His aim is revolutionary, for he believes that his dream of representing "the whole of modern life" will yield "a series of canvases big enough to burst the Louvre." Yet as an artist ahead of his time, he cannot prevail against the hidebound standards of the Academie des Beaux Arts-and, increasingly, against the limits of his own ability to paint the grand works that he envisions. Set in the bohemian milieu of nineteenth-century Paris, The Masterpiece recreates the art world that Zola knew well, both as a journalist and as the boyhood friend of one if its premier artists, Paul Cézanne.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Release date: Mar 13, 2012
• ISBN: 9781411466111

Émile Zola

Émile Zola (1840-1902) was a French novelist, journalist, and playwright. Born in Paris to a French mother and Italian father, Zola was raised in Aix-en-Provence. At 18, Zola moved back to Paris, where he befriended Paul Cézanne and began his writing career. During this early period, Zola worked as a clerk for a publisher while writing literary and art reviews as well as political journalism for local newspapers. Following the success of his novel Thérèse Raquin (1867), Zola began a series of twenty novels known as Les Rougon-Macquart, a sprawling collection following the fates of a single family living under the Second Empire of Napoleon III. Zola’s work earned him a reputation as a leading figure in literary naturalism, a style noted for its rejection of Romanticism in favor of detachment, rationalism, and social commentary. Following the infamous Dreyfus affair of 1894, in which a French-Jewish artillery officer was falsely convicted of spying for the German Embassy, Zola wrote a scathing open letter to French President Félix Faure accusing the government and military of antisemitism and obstruction of justice. Having sacrificed his reputation as a writer and intellectual, Zola helped reverse public opinion on the affair, placing pressure on the government that led to Dreyfus’ full exoneration in 1906. Nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901 and 1902, Zola is considered one of the most influential and talented writers in French history.

Reviews for The Masterpiece (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

[p_s_patrick · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This novel follows the struggle and tormenting passions of an artist in 19th Century Paris, his friendships, and what family life he has when not striving to produce his definitive masterpiece. There is psychological depth here in understanding the inner workings of a variety of extreme and ordinary personalities. Though what we have here is one of the great novels of self-destruction, it is not on the whole an unbalanced representation of artistic passion, as the other characters in the novel all scrape through life in their own different ways. Each has a slightly different view on art, and while to start with this fosters intellectual exchange and fires their artistic work, this changes throughout the novel as different personal motivations emerge. As the group grows apart, we see the tensions of jealousy due to their varying degrees of success and recognition. The main character Claude bears many similarities to the Impressionists and Post-impressionists who were among Zola's friends when he wrote the novel. This was at a point when Impressionism was maturing but not yet accepted by the establishment, and this fight to gain recognition in large part drives the story. Cezanne is perhaps the main inspiration for Claude and his artistic vision, though there are also definite aspects of Manet and other painters in evidence. Likewise, the other characters of the novel are also influenced by the author's contemporaries, and he writes himself into the story too in a somewhat autobiographical account as Claude's good friend Pierre.There is so much of interest here – an insight onto the life of an artist, the historical and social colour of 19th Century Paris, the nature of inspiration and obsession, human feeling and strife, wealth and poverty, and at least one exquisitely moving emotional scene. However for some this will be a challenging and depressing novel due to the suffering of the artist and those who are nearest to him. I would recommend it to anyone with at least a vague interest in this artistic and intellectual era, on its own merit as a novel of excellent literary quality, and as a brilliantly conceived tale of what could be described as a Pygmalion in reverse (which I won't explain to avoid spoiling the plot).

[jasonlf · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is a masterpiece, so to speak. It centers around the "open air" (i.e., impressionist) Claude Lantier and his struggles to create a masterpiece. The counterpoint is his depressing and tragic relationship with Christine, who ends up a near-martyr to his art. Claude is surrounded by a La Boheme-like group of artists, writers, journalists, and others--including a character based on Zola who is writing a cycle of novels like the Rougon-Macquart cycle.Zola sets out to write a naturalistic, scientific observation but can't help making it a true novel with a well-structured beginning, middle and end, and a certain amount of melodrama along the way. He also sets out to write a criticism of impressionism and the art world, but ends up making it more of an accidental tribute.More than the other two Zola novels I've read, this one truly is about Paris. The peripatetic characters traverse much of Paris, with Zola describing all the streets and landmarks they pass in their wanderings. And Lantier's attempted masterpiece is an enormous painting of the Île de la Cité, which is described from every angle and at every time.It is also much more of a novel of ideas, with long debates on the nature of art and its role in society.It is also a riveting, moving story from beginning to end.

[jannid-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Enjoyed this. I can see why so many of the Impressionists were a bit upset about the book. I think Zola was just being a tad too honest in his word painting - or perhaps they did not like to see it succeed when success eluded most of them in life. Tragedy, celebration, anger, relationships that flourish and fade, death, and intense sadness add emotional richness to the heart of the novel - the struggle of genius vs paint and canvas.

[arubabookwoman · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In this novel, Zola explores the art world of 19th century Paris, focusing on struggling (and failing) painter Claude Lantier, Christine, the woman who loves him, and a group of his friends, painters, sculptors, musicians, and a writer, Sandoz, who seems to be a stand-in for Zola himself. This was not my favorite Rougon Macquart, and at times I struggled with it, which surprised me since I love art and art history. I sometimes found the discussions of Claude's struggles in conveying his vision repetitive and boring, and I enjoyed the parts about his relationship with Christine much more.3 stars

[soylentgreen23 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Claude sees himself as an artistic genius, and in fact he does have considerable talent. But in late 19th century Paris, his talent is too modern, the paintings he wishes to produce unacceptable by the standards of the day, and his ambition therefore forever beyond his grasp. This is Zola's book about the world of art, and though it takes a critical look at the Impressionists - Claude is based in part on Cezanne and Manet - it is the perfect encapsulation of the horror that is true creative output, and the struggle that goes on in the mind and body of the artist so desperate to make real the creatures of their imagination.

[thorold_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

So, how do you follow a coup de force like Germinal? If you’re Zola, then apparently the way to do it is with a jolly little vie-de-Bohème tragedy of young artists. Something completely different, in any case, and it’s somehow rather fitting that the hero of this book, the painter Claude Lantier, has finished up as one of Zola’s least-known characters, whilst everyone remembers his brother and sister. The charm of this book comes from the way it draws so strongly on Zola’s friendship with his Aix-en-Provence schoolfellow Paul Cézanne. There are affectionate recollections of the walks they used to take in the hills around Aix, and glorious night-time rambles around Paris with a cantankerous bunch of young artists and writers. But of course Claude is a Zola character, so his artistic brilliance is offset by a powerful self-destructive instinct. His canvases, achieved with so much blood, sweat and tears, are invariably designed to be rejected by the academic jury of the Paris Salon, but ten years later everyone is borrowing from his ideas. And he’s sucked into a kind of distorted Pygmalion plot, where his passion for the image-woman he is painting draws all the life out of his relationship with his wife, the model for the picture. Not a top-flight Zola, perhaps, but probably deserves to be better known, not least for everything he tells us about the art-world in 1860s Paris.