It has indeed been described
as the most beautiful work written in France during the whole of the
nineteenth century.
_La Bete Humaine_, the next of the series, is a work of a different
class, and is to the English reader the most fascinating of all Zola's
novels. It deals with human passions in their elemental forms, with a
background of constant interest in the railway life of Western France.
The motives are always obvious and strong, a criticism which can by no
means be invariably applied to French fiction.
Next appeared _L'Argent_, which is the sequel to _La Curee_ and deals
with financial scandals. It was inspired by the failure of the Union
Generale Bank a few years before, and is a powerful indictment of the
law affecting joint-stock companies. To _L'Argent_ there succeeded _La
Debacle_, that prose epic of modern war, more complete and coherent
than even the best of Tolstoi. And to end all came _Le Docteur Pascal_,
winding up the series on a note of pure romance.
Regarded as a literary tour de force the work is only comparable to
the _Comedie Humaine_. It occupied nearly twenty-five years in writing,
consists of twenty volumes containing over twelve hundred characters,
and a number of words estimated by Mr.
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