{"product_id":"9781607780601","title":"The Fat And The Thin: or The Belly of Paris (Le Ventre de Paris)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eLe Ventre de Paris\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e (1873) is the third novel in Emile Zola's   twenty-volume series \u003ci\u003eLes Rougon-Macquart\u003c\/i\u003e. It is set in and around Les   Halles, the enormous, busy central marketplace of 19th Century Paris. \u003ci\u003eLe   Ventre de Paris\u003c\/i\u003e (translated into English under many variant titles, but   literally meaning \u003ci\u003eThe Belly of Paris\u003c\/i\u003e) is Zola's first novel centred   entirely on the working classes.\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eThe plot is centred around the escaped political prisoner Florent and the   effect he has on Lisa Quenu (formerly Macquart) and her family, with whom he   finds refuge. Although Zola had yet to hone his sense for working-class speech   and idioms displayed to such good effect in \u003ci\u003eL'Assommoir\u003c\/i\u003e, the novel still   conveys a powerful atmosphere both of life in the great market halls and of   working class suffering in general. There are several excellent descriptive   passages, the most famous of which, his description of the olfactory sensations   experienced upon entering a cheese shop, has become known as the \"Cheese   Symphony\" due to its ingenious orchestral metaphors. Throughout the book, the   painter Claude Lantier - himself a relative of the Macquarts and later the   central character in Zola's novel \u003ci\u003eL'oeuvre\u003c\/i\u003e (1886) - shows up to provide a   semi-authorial commentary, effectively playing the role of chorus. It is an   interesting and often powerful work, though not usually considered as being on a   par with the novelist's greater achievements later in the Rougon-Macquart   cycle.\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eLe ventre de Paris\u003c\/i\u003e was originally translated into English by Henry   Vizetelly and published in 1888 under the title \u003ci\u003eFat and Thin\u003c\/i\u003e. After   Vizetelly's imprisonment for obscene libel the novel was one of those revised   and expurgated by his son, Ernest Alfred Vizetelly; this mutilated version,   entitled \u003ci\u003eThe Fat and the Thin\u003c\/i\u003e, appeared in 1896 and has been reprinted   many times since; for most of the period until 2007 this remained the only   English version in print. The original full edition was afterwards reprinted in   Paris for adventurous English readers. The novel was retranslated for Elek Books   in the 1950s under the title \u003ci\u003eSavage Paris\u003c\/i\u003e, but that translation has long   been out of print. However, Oxford World's Classics released a brand-new   translation by Brian Nelson in November 2007\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003e— Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MobileReference","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47182995554544,"sku":"9781607780601","price":0.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781607780601_p0.jpg?v=1763837351","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781607780601","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}