Émile Zola
Born 2 April 1840 · Died 28 September 1902
Emile Zola was a French journalist and novelist known for his series of 20 novels known collectively as Les Rougon-Macquart (1871-93). Zola's style was called literary naturalism; his novels were attacked and even banned for their frankness and sordid detail, and caused quite a bit of controversy in their day. The same traits made him a best-selling author and a star of French literature in his day. In 1898 he then further incurred the wrath of French officials when he published the open letter "J'Accuse," in defense of Alfred Dreyfus, an Army officer who had been convicted of treason. Zola was sentenced to prison for libel, fled to England, and was granted amnesty a few months later. He died in Paris from carbon monoxide poisoning -- the victim of a stopped-up chimney -- a few months before Dreyfus was officially exonerated. (Source)
Quotes
“There are two men inside the artist, the poet and the craftsman. One is born a poet. One becomes a craftsman.”
Letter to Paul Cézanne 16 April 1860 , as published in John Rewald ed. Paul C “One forges one's style on the terrible anvil of daily deadlines.”
p. 840 “Thérèse, residing in damp obscurity, in gloomy, crushing silence, saw life expand before her in all its nakedness, each night bringing the same cold couch, and each morn the same empty day.”
Thérèse Raquin, Chapter 3 “For Madame Raquin, there was such a fathomless depth in this thought, that she could neither reason it out, nor grasp it clearly. She experienced but one sensation, that of a horrible disaster; it seemed to her that she was falling into a dark, cold hole. And she said to herself: "I shall be smashed to pieces at the bottom."”
Thérèse Raquin, Chapter 26 “They called her 'the chicken', for she had in truth the soft flesh and country freshness of a chicken.”
L'Assommoir, Chapter 11
Quotes from Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0), chosen with AI.
Books by Émile Zola in order
Books by Émile Zola in the order they were published, from L' Assommoir (1870) to The Beast Within (2008).
- 1L' Assommoir
L' Assommoir1870 - 2The Fortune of the Rougons
The Fortune of the Rougons1875 - 3La curée
La curée1879 - 4Le ventre de Paris
Le ventre de Paris1880 - 5Nana
Nana1880 - 6Pot-bouille
Pot-bouille1882 - 7Bonheur Des Dames, or, The Shop Girls of Paris
Bonheur Des Dames, or, The Shop Girls of Paris1883 - 8Germinal
Germinal1885 - 9The Soil
The Soil1887 - 10The Dream
The Dream1888 - 11Bête Humaine
Bête Humaine1890 - 12La Débâcle
La Débâcle1892 - 13The Downfall
The Downfall1892 - 14Lourdes
Lourdes1894 - 15Rome
Rome1896 - 16Paris
Paris1897 - 17Therese Raquin
Therese Raquin1900 - 18Truth
Truth1900 - 19The Masterpiece
The Masterpiece1946 - 20J'accuse
J'accuse1948 - 21Zola--photographer
Zola--photographer1979 - 22The Belly of Paris
The Belly of Paris1996 - 23The Three Cities Trilogy
The Three Cities Trilogy2003 - 24The Beast Within
The Beast Within2008