‘Germinal’ is Émile Zola’s realistic depiction of the coalminers’ strike in northern France in the 1860s. The story centers on Étienne Lantier, a young migrant worker who arrives at the coalmining town of Montsou in search of work as a coalminer. Set against a backdrop of extreme poverty and oppression, ‘Germinal’ is the story of the idealistic but naive Étienne, who embraces the ideals of the socialistic movement and goes on to lead a strike of the coalminers with disastrous consequences. Recognized as one of Zola’s undisputed masterpieces, ‘Germinal’ would widely become associated with the struggle of the working class and the socialistic movement that dominated the political environment of Europe at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century.
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