March 2026 A Love Story Part I

Thoughts and Ideas

I read right through this book without jotting too many notes so I'm going to skip straight ahead to the last thread and post my ending thoughts there.

Although, I wanted to ask first. I split my reading between the physical 1960s French edition, and the Project Gutenberg French edition, and PG includes an author's preface that my physical edition did not have. Does everyone else have Zola's preface where he discusses the family tree and his writing of the cycle?

I was also thinking as this is the 10th book in the series, once everyone has finished reading it, we can all summarize our thoughts on the first 10 books of the series so far and rank them in order of preference. I thought that could be a fun activity.

>2 lilisin: I have the French folio edition and it has both Zola’s preface and the family tree.

>3 lilisin: I haven't purchased the book yet, so I'm not sure about the preface.
I like your idea about summarizing/ranking the first 10 in the series!

>3 lilisin: I think that's a great idea. I have the Émile Zola A Love Story A new translation by Helen Constantine, Brian Nelson, Oxford Press. It does have explanatory notes, chronology, bibliography, family tree (Rougon-Macquart) all editorial material, not written by Zola.

I completed part I and I think that Zola has laid the groundwork for what promises to be an emotional tragedy. Not tooting my own horn at all, but I think I "could write", or predict the flow of this novel. I hope that Zola will surprise me! To sum up this section without any spoilers: duty vs. desire. Zola surely does not sentimentalize love, but presents it as something shaped by biology and circumstance.

I'm starting this today. Reading the Oxford World Classics translation by Helen Constantine.

I've finished part one. The characters have really grabbed me in this one. And I loved the description of Helene swinging.

Have begun, belatedly. First chapter plunges reader immediately into drama, familial and sexual. Looking forward to seeing where Zola will take us. I am reading a 2025 French edition with no apparatus beyond Zola’s original note on the family tree and a semi-illegible reproduction of his drawing.

Interesting that Helena is reading Ivanhoe. Scott has somewhat fallen out of popular favour, but his influence on European literature was very great at one time.

The month is running away from me, I probably have to carry this over into April.

I have started the book (finally) and the pages are just flying by. I really like the descriptions of Paris, as seen from Passy.

>13 MissWatson: The Paris descriptions are really memorable - I loved them too.

>14 japaul22: My notes mention that occasionally he slips in a building not yet built at the time of the story (1853/54), but it does not detract from the overall magic.

>15 MissWatson: I also thought it highly unlikely that the view could have really included everything Zola describes, but I didn’t care.

I love the references to books and reading in this one. The opening line (and paragraph) is evocative:

The night light in the blue-tinged glass on the mantelshelf burned behind a book, which cast a shadow across half the bedroom.

I love the imagery of a book casting its shadow across the room. Then later while reading Ivanhoe,

The book slipped from her hands. She dreamed, gazing into the distance. When she dropped it like that, it was because she needed to pause in her reading, take stock and wait awhile.

There are so many types of loves in the book: sexual, platonic, chivalrous, dutiful, romantic, friendship, maternal. But the tension in Helene between her love for her daughter and her gradual awakening to sexual love is just beginning to simmer:

Love, love! Yes, she surely loved her little girl. Was that not enough, this great love which had filled her life until now? Such quiet, tender love ought to suffice, it would last for ever, no weariness would destroy it. And she hugged her daughter more, as though to ward off those thoughts which threatened to separate them.