Book description
His haunting, impressionistic study of a man's slow corruption by jealousy, Emile Zola's The Beast Within (La Bete Humaine) is translated from the French with an introduction and notes by Roger Whitehouse in Penguin Classics.
Roubaud is consumed by a jealous rage when he discovers a sordid secret about his…
Why read it?
1 author picked The Beast Within as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
This 1890 novel, also called The Beast in Man, may be the most intense among the twenty novels that comprise Zola’s cycle about the fortunes and vicissitudes of the Rougon-Macquart, a fictional clan. Its complex plot is set in the railroad milieu and involves homicidal mania, seduction, adultery, murder, social hypocrisy, and a harrowing train wreck.
Zola’s novels were controversial at his time, not least because of his indictments of social, political, economic, and class issues, but now stand as magnificent achievements in literary realism. Equally powerful is Zola’s "You Are There!" manner of storytelling, which…
If you love The Beast Within...
December on 5C4
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
Want books like The Beast Within?
Our community of 13,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like The Beast Within.
Share your top 3 reads of 2026!
And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.
171
readers submitted
so far, will you?
📚 If you like The Beast Within, you might also like...
Sexy Selfie Nation
The problem is not with the actions young women take but with the toxic, sexist conditions they are responding to.
Tanenbaum found, based on six years of interviews with young people ages 14-30, that young women are navigating a culture littered with gendered dress codes, revenge porn, and sexually explicit…
In This Together
In This Together explores how we can harness our social networks to make a real impact fighting the climate crisis. Against notions of the lone environmental crusader, Marianne E. Krasny shows us the power of "network climate action"—the idea that our own ordinary acts can influence and inspire those close…
