Emile Zola

Émile Zola (1840–1902) was a French writer and journalist and a leading figure of literary naturalism. He first attracted attention with the novel “Thérèse Raquin” (1867). His major work is the twenty-volume cycle “Les Rougon-Macquart,” a literary panorama of French society during the Second Empire. Among his best-known novels are “L’Assommoir,” “Nana,” and “Germinal.” Zola’s writing was based on extensive documentation and close observation of social conditions. During the Dreyfus Affair, he published the open letter “J’accuse…!” in the newspaper “L’Aurore” in 1898, protesting the conviction of Alfred Dreyfus. He was born in Paris on April 2, 1840, and died there on September 29, 1902.