His Masterpiece: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

His Masterpiece, credited to Émile Zola, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of His Masterpiece by Émile Zola. (Translated by Ernest Alfred Vizetelly.) Read in English by Lisa Reichert “His Masterpiece" (“L’Oeuvre”) is a fictionalized account of the Parisian art world in the mid 19th century, and the emerging Realism, Naturalism and Impressionism movements. Emile Zola and Paul Cezanne had been friends from childhood, and the main character of the novel is thought to be largely drawn from Cezanne, as well as from Eduard Manet and Claude Monet. Zola himself appears in the work, in the character of Pierre Sandoz, a novelist. The painter in this story, Claude Lantier, attempts to revolutionize the art establishment, where artists painted in the studio and concentrated on mythological, historical and religious subjects. Instead, Lantier paints outdoors, in natural light, and with commonplace subjects. He gained a small group of supporters and fellow-practitioners in art, literature, architecture and music, but he could never manage to break out, and the public persisted in misunderstanding his aims. Meanwhile the artist sank into obsession and depression. It is believed that the publication of this book, which documents the failure of the artist to realize his potential, led to a permanent rift between Cezanne and Zola. - Summary by Lisa Reichert

Recording facts

• Recording title: His Masterpiece
• Author credits: Émile Zola
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 26
• Listed recording duration: 15:44:14

Opening tracks: first 24 of 26

1. 00 - Preface — 12:32
2. 01 - Chapter 1, Part A — 31:53
3. 02 - Chapter 1, Part B — 23:36
4. 03 - Chapter 2, Part A — 45:03
5. 04 - Chapter 2, Part B — 24:44
6. 05 - Chapter 3, Part A — 40:42
7. 06 - Chapter 3, Part B — 45:10
8. 07 - Chapter 4, Part A — 29:57
9. 08 - Chapter 4, Part B — 41:29
10. 09 - Chapter 5, Part A — 24:26
11. 10 - Chapter 5, Part B — 45:46
12. 11 - Chapter 6, Part A — 24:40
13. 12 - Chapter 6, Part B — 43:02
14. 13 - Chapter 7, Part A — 46:33
15. 14 - Chapter 7, Part B — 38:51
16. 15 - Chapter 8, Part A — 35:49
17. 16 - Chapter 8, Part B — 39:04
18. 17 - Chapter 9, Part A — 48:11
19. 18 - Chapter 9, Part B — 41:21
20. 19 - Chapter 10, Part A — 39:09
21. 20 - Chapter 10, Part B — 47:10
22. 21 - Chapter 10, Part C — 27:38
23. 22 - Chapter 11, Part A — 40:09
24. 23 - Chapter 11, Part B — 51:12

Listen to this recording

Open the complete recording and player on Internet Archive. The player includes the full track list and available download formats.

Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.