Zdeněk Havlíček Book order (chronological)

Soubor 19 povídek francouzského klasika. Součástí titulu je autorova novelistická prvotina „Kulička“, o níž francouzský kritik A. Thibaudet výstižně poznamenal, že Maupassant „nenapsal už nikdy nic lepšího jenom proto, že dokonalost se nedá překonat“, líčí příběh nevěstky, kterásvou lidskostí a nefalšovaným vlastenectvím zahanbí licoměrné, sobecké měšťáky.

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

Nana opens in 1867, the year of the World Fair, when Paris, thronged by a cosmopolitan élite, was la Ville Lumière, a perfect victim for Zola's scathing denunciation of hypocrisy and fin-de-siècle moral corruption. The fate of Nana, the Helen of Troy of the Second Empire, and daughter of the laundress in L'Assommoir, reduced Flaubert to almost inarticulate gasps of admiration: `Chapter 14, unsurpassable! ... Yes! ... Christ Almighty! ... Incomparable ... Straight out of Babylon!' Boulevard society is presented with painstaking attention to detail, and Zola's documentation of the contemporary theatrical scene comes directly from his own experience - it was his own failure as a playwright which sent him back to novel-writing and Nana itself. This new translation is an accurate and stylish rendering of Zola's original, which was first published in 1880.