B Nelson

'...successfully provides a convenient summary in English of present thinking on naturalism, together with some interesting commentaries on a range of European texts.'Journal of European Studies

• Part 1 Poetics: the nature of naturalism, David Baguley; the naturalist text and the problem of reference, Philippe Hamon; towards an aesthetic of the naturalist novel, Yves Chevrel; the genesis of novelistic space: Zola's "La Bete Humaine", Henri Mitterand; writing history as temporality: Zola's "Rougon-Macquart", James H. Reid. Part 2 Reception: the reception of naturalism in Germany, Joseph Jurt; the reception of naturalism in Spain, Eamonn Rodgers; Emilio Pardo Bazan - narrative strategies and the critique of naturalism, Maurice Hemingway; naturalism and anti-naturalism in Italy, Jonathan Smith; representing the real - the English debate about naturalism 1884-1900, Lyn Pykett. Part 3 Texts: on monstrous birth - Leopoldo Alas's "La Regenta", Noel Valis; in the factory - description in Galdos, Peter A. Bly; Thomas Mann's "Buddenbrooks" - the first and only naturalist novel in Germany, Lilian Furst; James's lady and Zola's whore - the inscription of the heroine in the text in "The Portrait of a Lady" and "Nana", Valerie Minogue.