La Bête humaine

La Bête humaine
Lithograph advertisement for La Bête humaine, 1890
AuthorÉmile Zola
LanguageFrench
SeriesLes Rougon-Macquart Histoire naturelle et sociale d'une famille sous le Second Empire
GenrePsychological thriller
Set inFrance
Published
  • 1890 (Bibliothèque-Charpentier, French)
  • 1968 (Signet Classic, English)
Publication placeFrance
Media typePrint (Serial, Hardcover, Paperback)
Pages372 (paperback)
Preceded byThe Masterpiece 
Followed byGerminal 

La Bête humaine (English: The Beast Within or The Beast in Man or The Monomaniac) is an 1890 novel by Émile Zola. It is the seventeenth book in Zola's Les Rougon-Macquart series. The story focuses on the lives and violent passions of railway workers who operate the line between Paris and Le Havre in the late 1860s. The novel is a tense psychological thriller and has been adapted multiple times for radio, television, and film.