Zola, �mile 1840-1902
French novelist

Zola was born in Paris, the son of an Italian engineer. He entered the publishing house of Hachette as a clerk, and soon became an active journalist. His first short stories were published as Contes � Ninon (1864, 'Stories for Ninon'), and other collections followed. In the later years of the Empire he formed a sort of informal society along with Gustave Flaubert, Alphonse Daudet, Edmond and Jules de Goncourt, and Ivan Turgenev, out of which grew the Naturalist school of novel. His first major novel, Th�r�se Raquin (1867), a powerful picture of remorse, belongs to this school. Later he began the series of novels called Les Rougon-Macquart, a collection of some 20 volumes, all connected by the appearance of the same or different members of the family. These include Nana (188), Germinal (1885), La Terre (1887, 'Earth') and La B�te humaine (1890, 'The Beast in Man').

In order to describe the human condition effectively, Zola mastered the technical details of most professions, occupations and crafts, as well as the history of recent events in France: this is seen for example in L'?uvre (art and literature), La Terre (the peasantry), Germinal (mining), La B�te humaine (railways), Le R�ve (church ritual), and other works listed below.

In 1898 Zola espoused the cause of Alfred Dreyfus, indicting the military authorities in his pamphlet J'accuse ('I accuse'). He was sentenced to prison, but escaped for a year to England and was welcomed back a hero. He died in Paris, accidentally suffocated by charcoal fumes.

Bibliography: Principal Works

Short stories: Contes � Ninon (1964, 'Stories for Ninon'), Nouveaux Contes � Ninon (1874, 'New Stories for Ninon'), Le Capitaine Burle, Na�s Micoulin, Attaque de Moulin (1880, 'Attack on the Mill').

Novels: Th�r�se Raquin (1867); La Fortune des Rougon (1871, 'The Fortunes of the Rougons'); La Cur�e (1872, 'The Rush for the Spoils') and Son Excellence Eug�ne Rougon (1876, 'His Excellency Eugene Rougon'), deal with the society of the later days of the Second Empire; Le Ventre de Paris (1873, 'The Underbelly of Paris') deals with the lowest strata of the Parisian population; Nana (1880) is devoted to the cult of lewdness. L'?uvre (1886, 'The Masterpiece') deals with art and literature; La Terre (1887, 'Earth') is a repulsive study of the French peasant, and Germinal (1885) of the miner; La B�te Humaine (1890, 'The Beast in Man') contains minute information on the working of railways; Le R�ve (1888, 'The Dream') displays a remarkable acquaintance with the details of church ritual; L'Argent (1891, 'Money') exploits financial crashes; and La D�b�cle (1892, 'The Downfall') recounts the great disaster of 1870. Le Docteur Pascal (1893, 'Doctor Pascal') is a sort of summing-up. F�condit� (1899, 'Fruitfulness'), Travail (1901, 'Work') and V�rit� (1903, 'Truth') form part of 'Les Quatre �vangiles' ('The Four Gospels').

Bibliography: P Walker, Zola (1985); F W J Hemmings, The Life and Times of Zola (1977); A Wilson, �mile Zola: An Introductory Study of His Novels (1952).