L'Assommoir has often been translated, and there are several unexpurgated modern editions available. In 1884, Henry Vizetelly published an English-language translation of the novel with some edits designed not to offend the sensibilities of British audiences. However, the salacious nature of Zola's work (even in edited form) would see the Vizetellys vilified in parliament and later prosecuted for obscenity.[1][2]
Translators have approached the title L'Assommoir in different ways. It is adapted from the French verb "assommer" meaning to stun or knock out. The noun is a colloquial term popular in late nineteenth-century Paris, referring to a shop selling cheap liquor distilled on the premises "where the working classes could drown their sorrows cheaply and drink themselves senseless".[3] Perhaps the closest equivalent terms in English are the slang adjectives "hammered" and "plastered". English translators have rendered it as The Dram Shop, The Gin Palace, Drunkard, The Drinking Den or simply The Assommoir.
- L'Assommoir (1879, tr. Mary Neal Sherwood, T.B. Peterson & Bros.)
- Gervaise (1879, tr. E. Binsse, G. W. Carleton & Co.)
- The 'Assommoir' (1884, tr. George Moore and E. A. Vizetelly[4] for H. Vizetelly, Vizetelly & Co.)
- L'Assommoir (1895, tr. Arthur Symons, Lutetian Society); later reprinted as Drunkard (Elek, 1958)
- The Dram Shop (1897, tr. unknown, edited by E. A. Vizetelly, Chatto & Windus)
- Drink (1903, tr. S.J.A. Fitzgerald, Greening & Co.)
- The Dram Shop (1951, tr. Gerard Hopkins, Hamish Hamilton)
- The Gin Palace (1952, tr. Buckner B. Trawick, Avon Publications)
- L'Assommoir (1962, tr. Atwood H. Townsend, New American Library)
- L'Assommoir (1970, tr. Leonard Tancock, Penguin Books)
- L'Assommoir (1995, tr. Margaret Mauldon, Oxford University Press)[5]
- The Drinking Den (2000, tr. Robin Buss, Penguin Books)[6]
- The Assommoir (2021, tr. Brian Nelson, Oxford University Press)
