(1840-1902) novelist, essayist
Noted both as the founder of the naturalist movement (see naturalism) and for his active participation in the Dreyfus affair, Emile Zola was born in Paris, France. His father died when he was seven years old, leaving the family with severe financial problems. He spent his childhood in the south of France, in Aix-en-Provence, returning with his mother to Paris at age 18. He befriended French painter Paul Cezanne and, influenced by romanticism, began to write. His mother had great hopes that he would pursue a career in law and ease the family’s financial burdens, but he failed his exams. Popular legend holds that there were times in which Zola’s family was so poor that he would capture birds on his windowsill to provide meat for the supper table.
Unable to pursue law, Zola secured employment first as a clerk for a shipping firm, then at the Louis-Christophe-Fran^ois-Hachette publishing house, all the while working toward his goal of becoming a published author. His journalistic writings included art criticism and literary reviews as well as political articles in which he openly expressed his animosity toward Napoleon III.
Zola’s earliest published works of fiction include Contes a Ninon (Stories for Ninon, 1864) as well as several essays, plays and short stories. He attracted little attention for his work until the publication of his scandalous and sordid autobiographical work La Confession de Claude (Claude’s Confession, 1865). This attention, however, came not so much from the public as it did from the authorities. As a result, Zola was fired from his job at the publishing firm, but he gained recognition as an emerging author.
Therese Raquin (1867), Zola’s first novel to be considered a major work, was published two years later and was a moderate success. He followed it immediately with the first of a series of works collectively referred to as the Rougon-Macquart cycle (1871-93), which revolves around the life of a family living under Napoleon III and the Second Empire. Zola initially presented this idea to his publisher in 1868. The family is split into two branches: the working-class Rougons, and the Macquarts, who are alcoholics and smugglers. In the course of time, some would rise to the highest levels of society, and others would fall victim to the evils of society and the malformations of their own character. The series reached 20 volumes, each one slightly different in theme but all of them sharing a common element of detailed research. Zola conducted interviews and attempted to experience as much as he could firsthand to understand and present his characters fully. He was particularly interested in the effects of heredity and social determinism. This marked the beginning of the new naturalist period of French literature.
The novel that brought him fame was L’Assom-moir (The Drunkard, 1877). After its publication, he bought property and continued to compile detailed notes about all aspects of life. Germinal (1885) was written based on notes compiled on labor conditions for coal miners. Having centered his novel on a worker’s strike, Zola again attracted the attention of the authorities, who viewed his work as advocating and encouraging revolution.
On January 13, 1898, Zola became even more openly involved in controversy. He published an open letter entitled J’accuse in which he defended Albert Dreyfus, a Jewish officer who had been sent to prison for allegedly giving military secrets to Germany. This letter was ultimately instrumental in gaining Dreyfus a new trial and his eventual release, but not until Zola was forced to flee to England to escape imprisonment for writing it. He returned in 1899, after Dreyfus was released.
On September 28, 1902, Zola was found dead in his home of carbon monoxide poisoning. Strong evidence points to the possibility that this was not an accident but a murder, carried out by those who disagreed with his views.
Other Works by Emile Zola
The Masterpiece. Translated by Thomas Walron. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. Pot Luck. Translated by Brian Nelson. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
A Work about Emile Zola
Brown, Frederick. Zola: A Life. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1995.
