Les Trois Villes: Lourdes (Dodo Press) (French Edition) [Emile Zola] on Amazon. com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Émile Zola (), né à Paris.
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May not contain Access Codes or Supplements. Buy with confidence, excellent customer service! Lourdes Emile Zola From the Three Cities Emile Zola Pierre de Ronsard Published: Lanos reproduites en couleurs. Lourdes Zola, Emile Chicago: Small owner's stamp on front endpaper, brownish cloth is a little sunned and spotted on the spine. Interior pages are starting to brown at the outer edges, but otherwise tight and clean internally.
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Four pages of publisher's ads at front, and four additional pages of ads at rear.. Cloud 9 Books Condition: Lourdes, Neely's international library Zola, Emile Jan 01, Very good brown decor. VG binding, brief edgewear, though pages universally toning. Ned Sparrow Books Published: Jan 01, Condition: Translated by Ernest A.
Near-fine in dark blue boards with gilt titles and floral imprint. A touch of rubbing to the corners and spine ends; interior clean and tight.
A beautiful copy, scarce in this format.. Ships from the UK. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Your purchase also supports literacy charities. Better World Books Ltd Condition: Lourdes Zola Emile London: Very Good with no dust jacket. Text is good to very good in decorated floral red cloth slight wear -clean copy -no markings ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; pages. Used - Very Good. Great condition for a used book!
Controcorrente Group srl BibliotecadiBabele Published: Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Ernest Alfred Vizetelly Translator. Lourdes Three Cities Trilogy, 1 3. In this moving depiction of a pilgrimage to Lourdes, the master French realist has created a novel of vivid characters and subtle commentary on suffering and the belief in miracles as the last desperate refuge from pain.
Based on his own trip to the fabled grotto, the novel follows a simple five-part structure corresponding to the five-day train trip from Paris to Lourdes In this moving depiction of a pilgrimage to Lourdes, the master French realist has created a novel of vivid characters and subtle commentary on suffering and the belief in miracles as the last desperate refuge from pain. Based on his own trip to the fabled grotto, the novel follows a simple five-part structure corresponding to the five-day train trip from Paris to Lourdes and back. Zola's brilliant observational powers are at their best as he moves from character to character describing in great detail the physical effects of their illnesses, their hopes, beliefs, fears, and above all endurance.
The great novelist himself makes a brief appearance in the story, disguised as a skeptical reporter whose probing questions embarrass a doctor in charge of verifying the alleged miracles. In the end, amidst the tumult of emotions whipped up by religious fervor a miracle of a sort does take place, a psychosomatic cure of a woman suffering from hysterical paralysis.
To a few skeptical observers in the entourage the event is a predictable natural occurrence, but to the majority of simple believers it is proof of divine intervention.
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In our age of televangelists and faith healers, this story has lost none of its relevance. Paperback , pages. Published May 1st by Prometheus Books first published July 25th Three Cities Trilogy 1. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Lourdes , please sign up.
Les Trois Villes: Lourdes
Part of a trilogy I am thinking? See 1 question about Lourdes…. Lists with This Book. Lourdes was first published in Zola first conceived of the book when he visited Lourdes in September and was taken aback by the number of pilgrims that visited the shrine to the Virgin Mary. He returned the following year during August, which is the busiest period for pilgrimages, and in Zola's typical fashion he spent time with the pilgrims, carrying out interviews and observations to form the basis of this book.
The book is set over a five-day period starting on Friday 19th August, w Lourdes was first published in The book is set over a five-day period starting on Friday 19th August, with each day covering approximately a hundred pages each. Day one covers the trip by train from Paris to Lourdes and we are introduced to a whole host of characters mostly made up of those pilgrims who have a variety of ailments and who are hoping for a miracle cure at Lourdes.
Pierre's and Marie's story is revealed early on in the novel and it is noted that Pierre has lost his faith. Marie is aware that Pierre has lost his faith but she is optimistic that she will be cured at Lourdes and that such a miracle may help Pierre believe again. So, if Pierre has lost his faith, why doesn't he leave the priesthood? He reasons that he is permanently marked as different than other men and that having kept his vow of chastity he should be able to conquer his mind as well.
As for Marie's illness, the doctors are not agreed on the cause of it and are unable to cure her, indeed one young doctor suggests that it is psychosomatic and that a cure at Lourdes may be possible if she believes in it herself.
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He even predicted how the miracle would come about; it would be like a lightning stroke, an awakening, an exaltation of the entire being, whilst the evil, that horrid, diabolical weight which stifled the poor girl would once more ascend and fly away as though emerging by her mouth.
When the pilgrims arrive the next day they settle in to their accommodation and eagerly wait for their visit to the Grotto at Lourdes. Pierre meets an old friend Dr. Chassaigne, whose story mirrors Pierre's, in that he has lost his 'faith' in medicine following the deaths of his wife and daughter; his own inability to save either has crushed his spirit and his only hope is for God to re-unite them with his death. Many believe that bathing in the waters at Lourdes will cure them of their illnesses. This belief is so strong that even the corpse of a man that died on the train is immersed in the waters at the piscina in the hope that he will live again.
Pierre is persuaded to help some of the patients enter the waters and here Zola describes the state of the waters in which the sick are to bathe: And nearly a hundred patients being dipped in the same water, it can be imagined what a terrible soup the latter at last became. Meanwhile Marie visits the Grotto and prays to the Virgin Mary to be cured. Over the next couple of days Pierre visits the Verification Office, where all claims of miracles are assessed by a team of doctors, visits some of the local shops that sell all sorts of souvenirs, accompanies Marie's father to a communal eating establishment run by some nuns and visits a local barber who rants constantly against the 'new' Lourdes that has appeared since the pilgrimages, despite making money by taking in lodgers.
The story culminates with Marie's cure during a night-time vigil at the Grotto. Pierre arrives in the morning to take Marie back to their accommodation and witnesses Marie's cure: But all at once, when the Blessed Sacrament passed by, and she saw the star-like monstrance sparkling in the sun, a sensation of dizziness came over her. She imagined herself sruck by lightning. Her eyes caught fire from the glare which flashed upon her, and at last regained their flame of life, shining out like stars.
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And under the influence of a wave of blood her face became animated, suffused with colour, beaming with a smile of joy and health. And, suddenly, Pierre saw her rise, stand upright in her little car, staggering, stuttering, and finding in her mind only these caressing words: After all the jubilation Marie ends up at the Verification Office and after much debate it is declared a miracle; only Pierre, who knows the true nature of her illness, is sceptical. And so the last day consists of the return trip; Pierre and Marie have to decide what they want to do with their lives.
Will it be together or will they stay apart? The book is split into five chapters, one for each day, and then each chapter is split into five sections as well. The last section of each chapter recounts the story of Bernadette Soubirous who is the girl to whom the Virgin Mary appeared to eighteen times in and is the source of the fame of Lourdes as a holy site. Theses sections are interesting enough and give some important background information to the reader.
Zola is brilliant at crowd scenes and one is included here, where a whole chapter is devoted to a night procession. There are also some funny episodes and some analysis of the Lourdes phenomena from an outsider's perspective; but I must admit I had problems reading Lourdes , it proceeds at such a slow plodding pace that it was quite tedious to read at times. It felt so static and the structure of the novel was too restrictive, especially where two of the five chapters are taken up with the train journey to and from Lourdes. At times it felt more like a piece of journalism than a novel and may have been better if it had been written up as an article.
Unlike Zola's previous novels where his extensive research added to the stories, here it just bogged it down in too much detail as he tried to cram everything in.
The other criticism is that there is no tension to the story; we know Pierre has lost his faith, we're pretty sure that Marie will be cured and because Pierre accepts that her illness is psychosomatic he is unlikely to consider her 'cure' a miracle and therefore it is not likely to help him regain his faith. Even the multitude of characters is a bit repetitive as they're all defined by their illnesses. I was intrigued to see what other critics thought of Lourdes and as always I found Graham King's summary, from Garden of Zola: Emile Zola and his Novels for English Readers the most accurate and entertaining: Why then isn't Lourdes read today?
With its potentially explosive ingredients, it should be ticking away like a time bomb, even after all these years. The trouble is that despite the proliferation of characters, the swirling, nervous crowds and the fascinating conflict between the sacred and secular activities, the narrative has lead boots, with one foot anchored firmly in a single location, Lourdes, and the other, equally immobile, in Pierre Fromant's mind. It is a little like being confined to a dreary little holiday hotel for days on end because of bad weather; even though we are in the company of a raconteur who desperately tries to entertain us, it isn't what we came for.
Although I had a physical copy of the novel I ended up reading most of it on my kindle, partly because of the ease but also because the print was so small in the book. Both were versions of the Vizetelly translation which can be found at Project Gutenberg. The translation is a bit old-fashioned and stuffy and the book could do with a more modern translation but it was still quite readable and I don't think it would have been bowldlerised that much, if at all.
Despite the faults with Lourdes I shall continue with the others View all 4 comments. Jul 07, Dagny rated it really liked it Shelves: It was fabulous, the best book I have read in a few years. I was quite hesitant to read this two volume book pages as I had heard it was about an Abbe's search to regain his faith. I thought it might be rather dry reading. I got so caught up in the story that I read the entire novel in less than a week, staying up way too late several nights in a row. May 23, Mikey B.
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This is a very hard-hitting novel. It raises issues on belief, faith, miracles, prayer — Christianity in particular. Our central character is Pierre, a priest, but who is entirely disenchanted — he no longer believes. We follow him on his journey from Paris to Lourdes in the southwest of France. He is on a train with believers on a pilgrimage. Many of them are extremely ill and diseased. They are going to worship, hoping to be cured at the Lourdes grotto. About forty years ago, in Emile Zol This is a very hard-hitting novel.
They would journey there to find a cure and solace. Pierre accompanies a group hoping to find faith, but never succeeds. Page my book Ah! How he [Pierre] would have liked to fall upon his knees and believe in the miracle, to acquire a certain conviction that that divine water had gushed from the rock solely for the healing of suffering humanity. Had he not come there to prostrate himself and implore the Virgin to restore the faith of his childhood? Why then did he not pray, why did he not beseech her to bring him back to grace? Zola is a master of juxtaposition. For instance, in contrasting a group of naive tourists versus the very sick lined up at the grotto; vulgar commercialization of Lourdes with vendors selling trinkets, candles, pictures of Bernadette and the Virgin Mary.
He is relentless in his depictions of faith and belief, of the multitudes at mass and prayer, of the portrayal of women and the glorification of the Immaculate Conception — all this is contrasted with the rise of science and rationalism in the 19th century. This is a book of passion and intensity — and, at times, with a dark gallows humour.