Jolly Parisiennes and Other Novelettes by Émile Zola

About this podcast

“The Jolly Parisiennes” by Émile Zola is a very clever, brilliant and interesting romance of a “grande passion” with an undercurrent of political intrigue. The plot is ingenious both in conception and execution, while the tone of the novel is exceedingly bright and vivacious. A peculiar phase of Parisian society is most agreeably dealt with. The heroines, Louise Neigeon and Berthe Gaucheraud, are very jolly ladies indeed, but they never forget that they are ladies, even in their merriest and most eccentric moods. They are handsome, graceful and captivating, tempering their seeming recklessness with the refinement of education and luxury. No wonder the young provincial hero, George de Vaugelade, was bewildered in their society and utterly lost his head. The other characters are a Countess with well-attended receptions; Felix Budin, a rather blasé young Parisian; Gaucheraud, a fat politician; and Monsieur Neigeon, a shadowy Deputy. “The Jolly Parisiennes” is a novel that everybody will r