The Masterpiece

15 hrs. 7 min.

Classics

Language Russian

Author Émile Zola

Narrator Ivan Zabelin

“Creativity” is the fourteenth novel by Émile Zola in the “Rougon-Macquart” cycle, devoted to members of one family who lived during the Second Empire—the period of Napoleon III’s dictatorship. First published as a separate book in 1886. At the age of eight, Claude Lantier was brought to Plassan by an elderly gentleman captivated by the quality of his drawings (see the novel “The Trap”). He also appears in another novel in the cycle, “The Belly of Paris.” In “Creativity,” Lantier—who resembles the Impressionist Paul Cézanne— is the childhood friend of the writer Pierre Sandoz, to whom Zola passed many of his own traits.

Together with Sandoz and other artists and sculptors, Claude struggles to introduce a new form of painting, far from the neoclassical canon popular at official exhibitions. If some of the artists eventually manage to win, Lantier goes from failure to failure, remaining misunderstood by the public and often by his own friends.

1. The Fortune of the Rougons (narrated by Alexey Dyakov) 1. The Fortune of the Rougons (narrated by Konstantin Dneprovsky) 1. The Fortune of the Rougons (narrated by Elena Shemet) 2. La Curée (The Kill) (narrated by Inna Sytnik) 2. La Curée (The Kill) (narrated by Konstantin Dneprovsky) 3. The Belly of Paris (narrated by Larisa Tretyakova) 3. The Belly of Paris (narrated by Konstantin Dneprovsky) 3. The Belly of Paris (narrated by Pavel Lomakin) 3. The Belly of Paris (narrated by Vsevolod Kuznetsov) 4. The Conquest of Plassans (narrated by Konstantin Dneprovsky) 5. The Sin of Father Mouret (narrated by Arkady Bukhmin) 5. The Sin of Father Mouret (narrated by Alina Ray) 5. The Sin of Abbé Mouret (narrated by Konstantin Dneprovsky) 6. His Excellency Eugene Rougon (narrated by Valery Tolkov) 7. L'Assommoir (narrated by Veronika Oboyanka) 7. The Trap (narrated by Margarita Ivanova) 8. A Love Episode (narrated by Oleg Martyanov) 8. A Love Episode (narrated by Natalya Frolova) 9. Nana (narrated by Nikolay Orlovsky) 9. Nana (narrated by Natalya Pervina) 9. Nana (narrated by Irina Vorobyova) 10. Pot Luck (narrated by Natalya Domeretskaya) 11. The Ladies' Paradise (narrated by Olga Zyuzina) 11. The Ladies' Paradise (narrated by Yuliya Tarkhova) 11. The Ladies' Paradise (narrated by Veronika Oboyanka) 12. The Joy of Life (narrated by Yuliya Tarkhova) 12. The Joys of Life (narrated by Sergey Kazakov) 13. Germinal (narrated by Yury Zaborovsky) 13. Germinal (narrated by Natalya Pervina) 13. Germinal (narrated by Konstantin Dneprovsky) 13. Germinal (narrated by Arkady Bukhmin) 14. The Masterpiece (narrated by Tatyana Telegina) 14. The Masterpiece (narrated by Olga Andreeva) 14. The Masterpiece 15. Earth (narrated by Valery Tolkov) 16. The Dream (narrated by Irina Efremova, Olga Evdokimova) 17. The Beast Within (narrated by Arkady Bukhmin) 17. The Beast Within (narrated by Valery Tolkov) 18. Money (narrated by Yury Zaborovsky) 18. Money (narrated by Yaroslav Lukashev) 18. Money (narrated by Olga Andreeva) 18. Money (narrated by Konstantin Dneprovsky) 19. The Debacle (narrated by Ilya Akintyev) 20. Doctor Pascal (narrated by Vladislav Pogiba) La Bête humaine (narrated by Roman Popov) The Dream (narrated by Olga Evdokimova)