Germinal - A Classic Challenge August: Quote

The August prompt for A Classic Challenge is so far the one I like most! It’s the simplest and most exciting of all :)

Rather than a questions this month's prompt is to share a memorable

Quote

... or a few of them from what you're currently reading. Try to select one that are not so well-known but, of course, if you can't help yourself share it too!

I have just finished reading Germinal by Émile Zola, and  LOVED it so much! This time it’s not only distressing, but Zola slipped a hope for a better world at the end of the novel. It reflected on the ending—and I found myself reading this quote over and over again, always feeling warm after that. And I also enjoyed Zola’s beautiful metaphors here….

“Now the April sun, in the open sky, was shining in its glory, warming the earth as it went into labour. From its fertile flanks life was leaping forth, buds were bursting into green leaves, and the fields were quivering with the growth of the grass. On every side seeds were swelling, stretching out, cracking the plain, filled by the need of heat and light. An overflow of sap flowed with whispering voices, the sound of the germs expanded in a great kiss. Again and again, more and more distinctly, as though they had come right up to the soil, the comrades were hammering. In the fiery rays of the sun, on this youthful morning, the country was pregnant with this rumbling. Men were springing forth, a black avenging army, germinating slowly in the furrows, growing up for the harvests of the next century, and their germination would soon overturn the earth.” ~p. 478 (closing quote).

Don’t you just love it?