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The Masterpiece

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The Masterpiece

By: Émile Zola
Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
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About this listen

Perhaps the most autobiographical of Zola's Rougon-Macquart cycle of novels, The Masterpiece is a hard, bleak, and raw portrait of unrecognized artistic genius. Claude Lantier, brother to Nana and son of Gervaise, is a struggling painter who dreams of conquering the Paris art scene with his revolutionary "open air" style of painting. Discouraged and mocked, Claude retreats to the countryside with a young woman from Clermont, with whom he has fallen in love, before returning to Paris, where he continues to experience rejection at every turn. Zola's depiction of a frustrated artist is said to have drawn heavily on the real-life experiences of Edouard Manet and Paul Cezanne, the latter of whom broke off his friendship with the author upon reading the novel.

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Public Domain (P)2020 Naxos Audiobooks Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction
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This is definitely not Zola's masterpiece, but it is still a very high calibre writing of course. It is gripping and truthful for the most part. Good insight into the struggle of an artist, how much sacrifice can go into one artwork. I just felt at certain points Zola didnt know where to take the novel, but the writing itself is excellent as usual. The narrator again scores well except his female voice and specifically his female crying. His crying is indeed aweful to the point the tones sound like a wailing animal. But everything else he narrates beautifully with the right effort and patience.

The struggle and pain of a true artist

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After hearing so much praise for Zola from so many respected authors over the years, I downloaded a few of Zola’s books in audiobook form.

This was a wonderful introduction to Zola’s genius - from his memorable turns of phrase to the large themes that he explores, there’s so much to savour here!

The Masterpiece also transports you back to a bygone era of Paris, in all of its beauty, grit and grime. And you feel what it was like to be swept along in the passion and energy of artistic debate among a group of up and coming artists.

And there’s a touching love story too.

Underneath and through all of this, The Masterpiece explores the sacrifices that artistic genius makes in the pursuit of genuine creativity and originality!

Now I’m a fan of Zola too!!

Enjoy!

Wow! A wonderful introduction to Zola!

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Leighton Pugh performs his usual miracles invoking a big cast of characters each with its own voice flawlessly rendered, and the French pronounced clearly but perfectly too. Bravo! The novel is a time capsule and very interesting, all about the birth of impressionism and the inner workings of the Salon, but is also a deep meditation on artistic ambition and the many sacrifices, of friendship, love and even life, it can demand. There is also a self portrait of Zola, a tiny bit smug it has to be said, but overall satisfying.

Superb narration

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