Customer Reviews

The Soil (The Earth. The Rougon-Macquart)

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I first read Zola's Earth when I was much younger. I remember being hugely impressed with the earthiness of it. So, thinking I'd like to read it again, I bought Douglas Parmee's translation, presuming that that was the translation that I'd read. But the language in that translation was not earthy, it was pedestrian, as though the translator was trying to appeal to the average English reader. I couldn't read it. I remembered the earthiness in the language of the translation I'd read as being something that perfectly represented the people and place in Zola's book. And it was a delight. So I bought this re-issue of an old translation, and yes, it was the one I'd read and loved before. I can't imagine how anyone who reads and enjoys Zola and other similarly great authors could prefer the newer translation to this older one. I can only guess that Parmee's translation was meant to appeal to readers whose main entertainment is television, and who want a writer to use simple, familiar words that describe simple, familiar feelings.