16 h 53 minAudiobook13 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A woman who cannot sing steps onto a Paris stage—and men with fortunes cannot look away.
In Émile Zola’s Nana, a young actress from the Paris slums wants comfort, luxury and freedom from poverty. She has beauty, little talent and no plan. Yet a crowded theatre opens the way to rich admirers, fine rooms and a place at the heart of a society eager to be dazzled.
Among the men drawn to her are Steiner, a banker willing to spend heavily, and Count Muffat, a devout court official caught in desire he cannot control. As Nana’s world expands, Zola looks beneath its glitter. Money, status and judgment are at stake, and the men who pursue her help create the power she holds.
What you’ll discover
- A dazzling first night Enter a packed theatre where Nana’s presence matters far more than her voice.
- Behind the velvet curtain Follow rich admirers into crowded dressing rooms thick with gas, powder and sweat.
- A count divided Watch Muffat struggle between his strict beliefs and a desire that unsettles his life.
- Paris on display Move from the stage to country pleasures and the splendid crowds at Longchamp.
- The cost of wanting Explore how hunger for pleasure eats through fortunes, social standing and sound judgment.
Who will love it
For readers who love big social novels, nineteenth-century Paris, and stories about money, desire and power. It also suits anyone curious about Zola.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A woman who cannot sing conquers a theatre
- Backstage, the rich men line up
- Nana builds a house out of other men's money
- Count Muffat is pulled between two houses
- A country house and a very young man
- Love, blows and a fortune wasted
- The race that carries the aristocrats with it
- What the novel is really about
- How Zola tells it, and the images that recur
Who’s who
- NanaA young actress from the slums of Paris who has no talent but great beauty, and who wants comfort, luxury and freedom from poverty.
- Count MuffatA devout chamberlain at the imperial court, a serious and strict man who is drawn into a desire he cannot control.
- FaucheryA journalist who knows the Paris stage well and writes the article that gives Nana her image as a golden fly.
- SteinerA rich banker and early protector of Nana, who spends heavily to please her and keep her.
- Count VandeuvresA polished aristocrat and horse owner who lives beyond his means and moves in the circle around Nana.
- Georges HugonA very young man who adores Nana with all the blindness of first love, to the worry of his family.
- SatinA young woman of the streets, a friend from Nana's poorer days, who offers her a tender and different kind of bond.
- FontanA vain comic actor who becomes Nana's lover and treats her badly, yet holds a strange power over her.
Formats and delivery
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 16 h 53 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 13 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
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Naná
by Émile Zola · 1880
A woman who cannot sing steps onto a Paris stage and draws wealthy men into a desire that threatens their fortunes.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Nana is a novel by Émile Zola, published in 1880. It is the ninth book in his Rougon-Macquart cycle, twenty novels that follow one family through the years of the Second Empire in France.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A woman who cannot sing conquers a theatre
The novel opens in April 1867, the year of the Paris Exposition, at the Théâtre des Variétés. The house is packed for the first night of a new operetta, The Blonde Venus. Rumor has run through the city that the title role will be played by a new star named Nana. Everyone seems to know her name, but nobody can say what she has done.
Zola fills the opening with the crowd. We see journalists, bankers, young men about town and women of doubtful fame. A young man named La Faloise, newly arrived from the provinces, is led through the hall by his cousin Fauchery, a writer. Fauchery points out who is who, and in this way Zola introduces the circle of rich men who will matter later, among them the banker Steiner and the wealthy, serious Count Muffat.
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What is Nana by Zola about?
It follows Nana, a poor Parisian girl who becomes a celebrated courtesan in the Second Empire. Men of wealth and rank spend fortunes on her, and the novel shows how their desire and vanity eat away their lives.
Is Nana connected to L'Assommoir?
Yes. Nana is the daughter of Gervaise Macquart, the heroine of L'Assommoir. Both books belong to Zola's Rougon-Macquart cycle, which follows one family through the Second Empire, and Nana grows up in the slums that book describes.
What does the golden fly mean in Nana?
The golden fly is the image from Fauchery's newspaper article. It describes Nana as a creature born in filth who rises into the light and poisons the men who touch her, standing for social decay.
The author
Émile Zola
1840–1902 · French novelist
Émile Zola (1840–1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, and poet. He was born in Paris, grew up in Aix-en-Provence, and later lived in Paris and Médan. He wrote Thérèse Raquin (1867), Nana (1880), and Germinal (1885). His twenty-novel series, Les Rougon-Macquart, appeared between 1871 and 1893.
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