French novelist and social reformer. He made his name with
Thérèse Raquin (1867), a grim, powerful story of remorse. With
La Fortune des Rougon/The Fortune of the Rougons (1867) he began a series of some 20 naturalistic novels collectively known as
Le Rougon-Macquart, portraying the fortunes of a French family under the Second Empire. They include
Le Ventre de Paris/The Underbelly of Paris (1873),
Nana (1880), and
La Débâcle/The Debacle (1892). In 1898 he published
J'accuse/I Accuse, a pamphlet indicting the persecutors of Alfred
Dreyfus, for which he was prosecuted for libel but later pardoned.
Zola was born in Paris. He became a journalist and a clerk in the publishing house of Hachette. He wrote literary and art criticisms and published several collections of short stories, beginning with
Contes à Ninon/Stories for Ninon (1864). Having discovered his real talent as a novelist, he produced the volumes of
Le Rougon-Macquart steadily over a quarter of a century, proving himself a master of realism. Other titles in the series are
La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret/The Simple Priest (1875),
L'Assommoir/Drunkard (1878),
Germinal (1885),
La Terre/Earth (1888),
La Bête humaine/The Human Beast (1890), and
L'Argent/Money (1891). Among later novels are the trilogy
Trois Villes/Three Cities (189498) (
Lourdes (1894),
Rome (1896),
Paris (1898)), and
Les Quatre Evangiles/The Four Gospels (18991903) (
Fécondité/Fecundity (1899),
Travail/Work (1902),
Vérité/Truth (1903), and the unfinished
Justice).
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