Pot Luck (Oxford World's Classics) [Unabridged] [Paperback]

Emile Zola (Author), Brian Nelson (Translator)

Book Description

Series: Oxford World's Classics | Publication Date: May 6, 1999

Pot Luck, Zola's most acerbic satire, describes daily life in a newly constructed block of flats in late nineteenth-century Paris. In examining the contradictions that pervade bourgeois life, Zola reveals a multitude of betrayals and depicts a veritable 'melting pot' of moral and sexual degeneracy. This new translation captures the robustness of Zola's language and restores the omissions of earlier abridged versions.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

About the Author

Brian Nelson is Professor of French and Head of the Department of Romance Languages at Monash University, Melbourne.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (May 6, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192831798
• ISBN-13: 978-0192831798
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,812,439 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars *Smile, Laugh and Cry With Your Neighbors*, March 12, 2003

By 

"jazzy_baby" (Montreal, Quebec) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pot Luck (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

"Pot Bouille" is indeed a piece of treasure. Even now, I can still find myself holding on to each word since the very first page. Each page will keep you wanting for more. It tells a story of an apartment building and its occupants. One might imagine the type of brownstone mansions in New York City or Beacon Hill in Boston divided to apartment units to be rented out. Except that in Zola's pot, neighborly interactions take place regularly and make up the heart of the story.

Although many stories about bourgeoisie lives have been written, I've never come across characters as vivid, comical, harsh, evolving and disgusting as those portrayed in this book. Gossips, money, sex, adulteries, self advancement and selfishness are so well mashed in the pot, they'll warm up to readers' hearts. I can really feel for the characters cause they seem very much alive, it almost seem that I'm living next door to them. Although Monsieur Octave Mouret is described as the hero in this book, I feel that the true hero is Monsieur Josserand. "Pot Bouille" is a story about temptations and human feelings. It has every power to make me cringe, laugh, smile and cry.

"Pot Bouille" is a truly wonderful piece that will spark readers' imaginations. I've enjoyed reading the copy by Oxford World's Classics. Professor Brian Nelson has done a terrific job in translating it from its original French. Read it and have fun!!!!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What they don't teach you in business school, September 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Pot Luck (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

A good jolly soap opera of a book. Young man comes from the provinces to the capital. Gets a room in an apartment block. Learns about life in general and the opposite sex in particular. Nothing new so far. Other authors had already trod the same path. Here, the whole process is meticulously described with Zola's usual skill (he is now on the tenth novel in his cycle). One cannot help thinking, though, that the apartment block must have been a pox doctor's paradise. But the book's real interest is in how the hero uses his acquired knowledge - which is revealed when he becomes the great retailing tycoon in the next book "Au Bonheur des Dames". So, this book is really the first part of a two-part series and it does its job of whetting the appetite for part two. It shows that the university of life is better than a business studies course any day.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not a Melodrama, August 7, 2004

By 

myshiak (washington, dc) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pot Luck (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

This novel is not melodramatic, because it does not fit the definition. In a melodrama there is a polarization of good and evil; both are shown with an exaggerated acuteness and feelings that go along are overdramatized. In "Pot-Bouille/Pot Lock" the characters are very real and down-to-earth. The novel features sex, adulteries, self-seeking, self-advancement, hypocrisy, religion, greed, fight over inheritance, jealousy, show-boating, children born out of wedlock, etc. All of that happens among the inhabitants of the same building. The last utterance in the novel (delivered by one of the servants) shows the typical nature of the late XIXth century Parisian building, which is splendidly beautiful on the outside (referring to the beginning of chapter I). A fine-looking housekeeper, who stands on guard of morals, is an embodiment of sanctimony.

The novel is somewhat loosely tied with the sequel story about Octave Mouret "Au Bonheur des Dames/the Ladies' Delight". Both are masterpieces in their own rights and can be enjoyed independently of one another.