Names of the direction Emil Zola. Not a day without a line

Writer Emile Zola was born on April 2, 1840 in Paris and grew up in an Italian-French family. Emil spent his childhood and school years in Aix-en-Provence. When he was not yet 7 years old, his father died and the family found itself in a very difficult financial situation. Madame Zola, counting on the support of her late husband's friends, moved to Paris with her son in 1858.

At the beginning of 1862, Emil got a job at the Ashet publishing house, where he earned good money and could spend his free time on literary pursuits. Zola reads avidly, follows new publications, writes reviews of the latest book releases for magazines and newspapers, makes acquaintances with popular writers, and tries his hand at prose and poetry.

Zola worked at the publishing house for about 4 years and quit, hoping that he could live off his literary talent. And in 1864 he published his debut book “Tales of Ninon”, which combined stories different years. This period of creativity is characterized by the influence of romanticism.

In November 1865, his first novel, “Claude's Confession,” was published, which he dedicated to his friends, Paul Cézanne and Baptistin Bayle. Cézanne, who arrived in Paris from Aix, introduced Zola to the circle of painters, together they visited the workshops of Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, met with Edouard Manet and many artists. Emile Zola energetically joined the fight talented craftsmen, your original creativity challenging the traditional academic school.

The novels “Confession of Claude”, “Testament of the Deceased”, “Mysteries of Marseilles” show a story of sublime love, the opposition of reality and dreams, and the character of an ideal hero is conveyed.

The novel “Claude’s Confession” deserves special attention. This is a brutal and thinly veiled autobiography. This controversial book made Emil's personality scandalous and brought long-awaited popularity.

Emile Zola. Portrait by Edouard Manet. 1868

In 1868, Emile had the idea of writing a series of novels that would be dedicated to one family - the Rougon-Macquarts. The fates of these people have been studied for several generations. The first books in the series did not really interest readers, but volume 7, “The Trap,” was doomed to great success. He not only increased Zola's fame, but also his fortune. And all subsequent novels in the series were greeted by fans of this French writer with great enthusiasm.

Twenty volumes of the large Rougon-Macquart cycle are the most important thing literary achievement Zola. But earlier he still managed to write “Thérèse Raquin.” After his stunning success, Emil published 2 more cycles: “Three Cities” - “Lourdes”, “Rome”, “Paris”; as well as “The Four Gospels” (there were 3 volumes in total). Thus, Zola became the first novelist to create a series of books about members of the same family. The writer himself, naming the reasons for choosing such a cycle structure, argued that he wanted to demonstrate the operation of the laws of heredity.

Zola worked on this cycle for more than 20 years. The origins of the concept of Zola's epic were O. de Balzac's "Human Comedy", however, Zola contrasts Balzac's study of the social and moral springs that control man with the study of temperament, physiological constitution, heredity in combination with the influence of social, "environmental" factors - origin, upbringing, living conditions.

Zola introduces into the literature data from natural science discoveries: medicine and physiology (works of physiologists and psychiatrists C. Bernard, C. Letourneau), social Darwinism and the aesthetics of positivism (E. Renan, I. Taine). The truly epic coverage of all aspects of public and private life is noticeable, first of all, in the thematic diversity of the cycle. Here are the Franco-Prussian War (“The Capture of Plassin”, “The Defeat”), and the peasantry and rural life (“Land”), and the work of miners and the socialist movement (“Germinal”), and the life of bohemia, the first speeches of impressionist artists against academicism (“Creativity”), and the stock exchange and finance (“Money”), and trade (“Ladies’ Happiness”, “The Belly of Paris”), and courtesans and “ladies of the demimonde” (“Nana”), and the psychology of religious feelings (“Nana”). Dream"), and crimes and pathological tendencies ("Man-Beast").

Maupassant called the novel "Creation" "amazing." Russian critic Stasov wrote “How truly depicted art world of today's France! How faithfully the diverse characters and personalities of contemporary artists are represented!”

"Creation" - the fourteenth novel in the series - Zola began writing in May 1885 and finished nine months later. On February 23, 1886, he informed his friend Cear: “My dear Cear, just this morning I finished with “Creativity”. This is a book in which I captured my memories and poured out my soul...”

The scope of "Creativity", as Zola defined it in a plan drawn up in 1869, is " art world; the hero is Claude Duval (Lantier), the second child of a working-class couple. The bizarre effect of heredity."

The plot of "Creativity" was based on some real events and facts from the life of the writer and his friends - Cezanne and Bayle, as well as Edouard Manet, Claude Monet and many others. The content of the novel is related to the controversy that the writer waged in the 60s in defense of a group of young painters. In 1866, on the eve of the opening of the Salon - a traditional exhibition visual arts, - two sensational articles appeared in the press at that time, few people famous critic Emile Zola. In these articles, he reproached the jury that selected the paintings for the exhibition for not wanting to give the public the opportunity to see " bold, full-blooded paintings and sketches taken from reality itself". At the Salon, Zola pointed out, the paintings of talented painters are not presented only because their work denies the ossified traditions of the academic school and thereby undermines the prestige of the influential caste.

There has been a lot of debate about the prototypes of the main characters in "Creation". It was argued that Sandoz was a portrait of Zola himself (in handwritten notes to “Creation,” Zola indicated that “Sandoz was introduced in order to illuminate my ideas about art”); in Fagerolles they saw both Paul Bourget and Guimet, in Jory's criticism they saw a portrait of Paul Alexis, in the image of Bongrand they found a lot of Manet, but even more of Flaubert. As for Claude Lantier, in his handwritten notes to “Creation” Zola writes: "Claude, who committed suicide in front of his unfinished creation, is Manet, Cezanne, but more Cezanne."
However, Creativity should not be viewed as a history of impressionism. Zola's novel, first of all, is a novel about the relationship of art to reality, in response to the beliefs of critics that art and real life are incompatible. Zola came out in defense of the art of truth in life. Using the tragic example of the fate of Claude Lantier, he showed that “Only the creators of life triumph in art, only their genius is fruitful...” This conclusion of the writer confirms the inconsistency of the subjectively idealistic view of art.
Emile Zola's novel lifts the curtain on the world of people who are wholeheartedly devoted to art, people who daily experience both hell and heaven, who are not afraid to challenge a world frozen in monotony.

Excerpt from the novel “Creativity”

“A blinding flash of lightning illuminated her again, and she immediately fell silent, opened her eyes wide, and began to look around in horror. Shrouded in a purple haze, an unfamiliar city stood before her, like a ghost. The rain has stopped. On the other bank of the Seine, on the Quai des Ormes, there were small, gray houses covered with signs with uneven rooflines; behind them the horizon expanded, brightened, it was framed to the left by the blue slate roofs on the towers of the town hall, to the right by the lead dome of the Cathedral of St. Pavel. The Seine in this place is very wide, and the girl could not take her eyes off its deep, black, heavy waters, rolling from the massive arches of the Marie Bridge to the airy arches of the new Louis Philippe Bridge. The river was dotted with some strange shadows; there was a sleeping flotilla of boats and yawls; and a floating laundry and dredging machine were moored to the quay; on the opposite shore stood barges filled with coal, scows loaded with building stone, and a giant crane towered above everything. The lightning light faded. Everything has disappeared."

Read the novel in full

Republican and DemocratZolacollaborated with the opposition press, wrote and distributed articles exposing the French military and the reactionary regime of Napoleon.

When Zola intervened in the scandalous Dreyfus affair, it became a sensation. Emil was convinced that Alfred Dreyfus, an officer of the French general staff, who was Jewish, had been unfairly convicted in 1894 of selling military secrets to Germany. So the writer exposed the army leadership, pointing out their responsibility for the miscarriage of justice. Zola formulated his position in the form open letter and with the heading “I accuse” he sent it to the President of the Republic. The writer was sentenced to a year in prison for libel. But Emil fled to England and returned to his homeland in 1899, when Dreyfus was finally acquitted.

Zola became second after Victor Hugo in the popularity rating of French writers. But on September 28, 1902, the writer died suddenly in his own Paris apartment due to an accident. He suffered carbon monoxide poisoning. But, most likely, this was set up by his political enemies. Emile Zola was a passionate defender of humanism and democracy, for which he paid with his life.

goldlit.ru ›Zola

The greatest French writer, was born in Paris on April 2, 1840 in the family of an Italian civil engineer who accepted French citizenship. Emil spent his childhood and adolescence in Aix-en-Provence. In 1847, when the boy was not even seven, his father died, after which his relatives found themselves in extremely difficult financial situation. Hoping that the friends of the late husband would be able to support them, their small family moved to the French capital in 1858.

Emile Zola received his education at the Lyceum, after which he worked in a merchant’s office and in a bookstore. Starting in 1862, he worked for about 4 years at the Ashet publishing house, which is why he decided to leave there, take up writing and thus earn a living. His rise to fame began with journalism, and subsequently his connection with it was never interrupted. Without distancing himself from the socio-political life of the country, Zola from time to time acted as a publicist, although he gained less fame in this field than as a creator of works of art.

In 1864, his debut collection of stories entitled “Tales of Ninon” was published, and in 1865 his first novel, “Claude’s Confession”, was published, which was, in fact, autobiographical and made the author notorious. This reputation was bolstered by a review of an art exhibition in 1866, in which Émile Zola passionately advocated creative manner artist E. Manet, a representative of impressionism. Zola had a special sympathy for this new direction, which was reflected in the books “My Salon”, “What I Hate”, “Edouard Manet”. He also showed himself to be a supporter of the naturalistic school (preface to the drama “Thérèse Raquin” (1867)), which in practice was manifested in the introduction into the fabric of works of art of materials related to medicine, physiology, and discoveries in natural science. Zola was convinced that the role of the dominant in human life It is the biological principle that plays.

Around 1868, Zola planned to write a series of novels, the heroes of which would be one family, represented by four or five generations. Of the novelists, he was the first to devote an entire series of works to one family. The Rougon-Macquart cycle. The Natural and Social History of One Family in the Second Empire" was written over twenty-two years (1871-1893) and became the most significant work V creative biography Emile Zola. The public did not immediately show interest in him, but after the 7th volume, the novel “The Trap,” written in 1877, the writer became famous and wealthy, and bought a house not far from the capital, in Meudon. The next novels in the series were highly anticipated, they were admired, they were subjected to severe criticism, but there were no indifferent people. In total, 20 volumes were written within the framework of Rougon-Macquart, which brought world fame and the status of the largest national writer after Victor Hugo.

But even fame did not help the writer to be sentenced to 1 year in prison on charges of libel. In 1898, Zola intervened in the so-called. the case of Alfred Dreyfus, unjustly convicted of extradition military secrets to a foreign state. In 1898, the writer addressed the president of the republic with an open letter “I accuse,” as a result of which he had to urgently leave for England. With the situation changing in favor of the convicted officer, the writer was able to return to France.

In the last years of his life, Zola worked on two cycles - “Three Cities” and “Four Gospels” (the novels “Fertility”, “Labor”, “Truth” and “Justice”, of which the latter remained unfinished). Death found Emile Zola in Paris on September 28, 1902. The official cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning due to a malfunction of the fireplace chimney. The writer's contemporaries had reason to believe that he became a victim of political opponents, but no one was able to prove the version of the accident being staged.

Biography from Wikipedia

Emile Zola(French Émile Zola; April 2, 1840 (18400402), Paris - September 29, 1902, ibid.) - French writer, publicist and politician.

One of the most significant representatives of realism of the second half of the 19th century is the leader and theorist of the so-called naturalistic movement in literature. He is best known for his large-scale 20-volume series “Rougon-Macquart,” in which he described all layers of French society during the Second Empire. His works have been adapted into films and television many times.

He played a significant role in the high-profile “Dreyfus Affair”, because of which he was forced to emigrate to England.

Childhood and youth in Provence

Emile Zola was born on April 2, 1840 in Paris, in the family of an engineer. Italian origin François Zola (in Italian the surname is read as Zola), who accepted French citizenship, and the mother of a French woman. In 1843, Emile's father received a contract to build a canal in Aix-en-Provence and moved his family there. Together with financial partners, he creates a company to implement planned projects in Provence. Work on the construction of a canal and dam to supply the city with water began in 1847, but in the same year Francois Zola died of pneumonia.

After the death of her husband, Emil's mother is in great need, living on a meager pension. In 1851, she returned with her son to Paris to follow a lawsuit brought by creditors against the company of the late François Zola. In 1852 the company was declared bankrupt, and in next year the channel changes owners.

Emil begins to receive education relatively late for that time - at the age of seven. His mother places him in a boarding school at the College of Bourbon in Aix-en-Provence, where he studies for five years. In Provence, Zola also received religious education - he received his first communion in 1852.

In Aix-en-Provence, one of Emile Zola's closest friends was the artist Paul Cézanne, with whom he would maintain friendship until the mid-1880s. At the same time, Zola became interested in the works of Alfred de Musset, Alfred de Vigny and Victor Hugo. He himself tries to write poetry, but it is now lost. The town of Aix-en-Provence and the entire region will become the source for many scenes and plots in his future novels from the Rougon-Macquart series. The very image of the city is depicted in books under a fictitious name Plassans.

Bohemian life

With regret for himself, in 1858 Emil moved to his mother in Paris. They live in fairly modest conditions. Zola's mother planned a career as a lawyer for her son, but he failed his bachelor's exam twice.

During the winter of 1860-1861, Emil started love affair with a girl named Bertha, whom he himself called “the girl with the parties” (French: une fille à parties), i.e., a prostitute. He nurtured the idea of “pulling her out of the stream”, introducing her to a decent occupation, but this idealism could not withstand the realities of life in Paris. This failure will serve as the basis for his first novel, The Confession of Claude (1865). Later, the plot will be partially retold by Emile in his Rougon-Macquart cycle. Among the characters in his works there will arise a similar supporter of religious education and a similar desire for a life without obligations.

At this time, Zola comprehends humanistic culture, reading Moliere, Montaigne and Shakespeare, and also falls under the influence of the more modern Jules Michelet. He is also interested in painting and is close to the impressionists: Edouard Manet, Camille Pissarro, Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, Jan Barthold Jongkind. Edouard Manet painted several portraits of Zola, and Paul Cezanne continued to be his closest friend. For many decades, the writer and artist will maintain warm relations, help each other financially, and conduct extensive correspondence. But after the publication of the novel “Creation”, in which Cezanne unpleasantly recognizes himself in the image of the artist Claude Lantier, their friendship ends. Cézanne sent his last letter to Zola in 1886 and since then they have not seen each other again.

First publications

Zola began his literary career as a journalist (collaboration with L’Evénement, Le Figaro, Le Rappel, Tribune); many of his first novels are typical “feuilleton novels” (“Mysteries of Marseilles” ( Les Mystères de Marseille, 1867)). Throughout the subsequent course of his creative career, Zola maintained contact with journalism (collections of articles “What I Hate” ( Mes haines, 1866), "Hike" ( Une campagne, 1882), “New Campaign” ( Nouvelle campagne, 1897)). These speeches are a sign of his active participation in political life.

Zola stood in the center literary life France of the last thirty years of the 19th century and was associated with the largest writers of that time (“Lunches of Five” (1874) - with the participation of Gustave Flaubert, Ivan Turgenev, Alphonse Daudet and Edmond Goncourt; “Medan Evenings” (1880) - a famous collection that included works by himself Zola, Joris Karl Huysmans, Guy de Maupassant and a number of minor naturalists such as Henri Cear, Leon Ennick and Paul Alexis).

In the last period of his life, Zola gravitated towards the socialist worldview, without going beyond radicalism. Like the highest point political biography Zola should be noted for his participation in the Dreyfus affair, which exposed the contradictions of France in the 1890s - the famous article "J'accuse" ("I accuse"), for which the writer paid with exile in England (1898).

In 1901 and 1902, member of the French Academy Marcelin Berthelot nominated Emile Zola for competition. Nobel Prize on literature.

Death

Zola died in Paris from carbon monoxide poisoning, according to the official version - due to a malfunction of the chimney in the fireplace. His last words, addressed to his wife were: “I feel bad, my head is pounding. Look, the dog is sick. We must have eaten something. It’s okay, everything will pass. There is no need to disturb anyone...” Contemporaries suspected that it could be a murder, but irrefutable evidence of this theory could not be found.

In 1953, journalist Jean Borel published an investigation in the newspaper Libération entitled “Was Zola Killed?” stating that Zola's death may have been a homicide rather than an accident. He based his assertions on the revelations of the Norman pharmacist Pierre Aquin, who said that the chimney sweep Henri Bouronfosse confessed to him that the chimney of Emile Zola's apartment in Paris was deliberately blocked.

Personal life

Emile Zola was married twice; from his second wife (Jeanne Rosero) he had two children.

Memory

A crater on Mercury is named after Emile Zola.

In the Paris metro there is a station called Avenue Emile Zola on line 10 next to the street of the same name.

Creation

Zola's first literary performances date back to the 1860s - Tales of Ninon ( Contes a Ninon, 1864), "Confession of Claude" ( La Confession de Claude, 1865), “Testament of the Dead” ( Le vœu d'une morte, 1866), “The Mysteries of Marseilles” ( Les Mystères de Marseille, 1867).

Young Zola quickly approaches his main works, the central hub of his creative activity- 20-volume series “Rougon-Macquart” ( Les Rougon-Macquart). Already the novel “Thérèse Raquin” ( Thérèse Raquin, 1867) contained the main elements of the content of the grandiose “Natural and Social History of a Family during the Second Empire.”

Zola spends a lot of effort to show how the laws of heredity affect individual members of the Rougon-Macquart family. The entire epic is connected by a carefully developed plan based on the principle of heredity - in all the novels of the series there are members of the same family, so widely branched that its branches penetrate both the highest strata of France and its lower strata.

Portrait by Manet

Unfinished series “Four Gospels” (“Fruitfulness” ( Fécondite, 1899), “Labor”, “Truth” ( Verite, 1903), "Justice" ( Justice, not completed)) expresses this new stage in Zola’s work.

In the interval between the Rougon-Macquart and Four Gospels series, Zola wrote the Three Cities trilogy: Lourdes ( Lourdes, 1894), "Rome" ( Rome, 1896), "Paris" ( Paris, 1898).

Emile Zola in Russia

Emile Zola gained popularity in Russia several years earlier than in France. Already “Tales of Ninon” were noted by a sympathetic review (“Notes of the Fatherland”. 1865. T. 158. - P. 226-227). With the advent of translations of the first two volumes of Rougon-Macquart (Bulletin of Europe, 1872. Books 7 and 8), its assimilation by a wide readership began. Translations of Zola's works were published with cuts for censorship reasons; the circulation of the novel "Prey", published in the publishing house. Karbasnikova (1874) was destroyed.

Gravestone remaining as a cenotaph on the site of Zola's original grave in Montmartre Cemetery, moved on June 4, 1908 to the Panthéon

The novel “The Belly of Paris”, translated simultaneously by “Delo”, “Bulletin of Europe”, “Notes of the Fatherland”, “Russian Bulletin”, “Iskra” and “Biblical. cheap and public access.” and released in two individual publications, finally established Zola's reputation in Russia.

In the 1870s Zola was absorbed mainly by two groups of readers - the radical commoners and the liberal bourgeoisie. The first were attracted by sketches of the predatory morals of the bourgeoisie, which were used in our fight against the enthusiasm for the possibilities of capitalist development in Russia. The latter found in Zola material that clarified their own situation. Both groups showed great interest in the theory of the scientific novel, seeing in it a solution to the problem of constructing tendentious fiction ( Boborykin P. Real romance in France // Otechestvennye zapiski. 1876. Book 6, 7).

The Russian Messenger took advantage of the pale portrayal of the Republicans in The Rougons' Career and The Belly of Paris to combat the hostile ideology of the radicals. From March 1875 to December 1880, Zola collaborated with the Vestnik Evropy. The 64 “Paris Letters” published here were composed of social and everyday essays, stories, literary critical correspondence, art and theater criticism and set out for the first time the foundations of “naturalism”. Despite its success, Zola's correspondence caused disillusionment among radical circles with the theory of the experimental novel. This entailed, with little success in Russia of such works of Zola as “The Trap”, “Page of Love”, and the scandalous fame of “Nana”, a decline in Zola’s authority ( Basardin V. The latest Nana-turalism // Business. 1880. Book. 3 and 5; Temlinsky S. Zolaism in Russia. M., 1880).

Since the early 1880s. Zola’s literary influence became noticeable (in the stories “Varenka Ulmina” by L. Ya. Stechkina, “Stolen Happiness” by Vas. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, “Kennel”, “Training”, “Young” by P. Boborykin). This influence was insignificant, and most of all it affected P. Boborykin and M. Belinsky (I. Yasinsky).

In the 1880s and the first half of the 1890s. Zola's novels did not enjoy ideological influence and were circulated mainly in bourgeois reading circles (translations were published regularly in the Book of the Week and the Observer). In the 1890s. Zola again acquired major ideological influence in Russia in connection with the echoes of the Dreyfus affair, when a noisy controversy arose around the name of Zola in Russia (“Emile Zola and Captain Dreyfus. A New Sensational Novel,” issues I-XII, Warsaw, 1898).

Zola's latest novels were published in Russian translations in 10 or more editions simultaneously. In the 1900s, especially after 1905, interest in Zola noticeably waned, only to revive again after 1917. Even earlier, Zola’s novels received the function of propaganda material (“Labor and Capital”, a story based on Zola’s novel “In the Mines” (“Germinal”) ), Simbirsk, 1908) (V. M. Fritsche, Emil Zola (To whom the proletariat erects monuments), M., 1919).

Works

Novels

Confession of Claude ( La Confession de Claude, 1865)
Testament of the deceased ( Le vœu d'une morte, 1866)
Teresa Raquin ( Thérèse Raquin, 1867)
Marseille secrets ( Les Mystères de Marseille, 1867)
Madeleine Fera ( Madeleine Ferat, 1868)

Rougon-Macquart

Career of the Rougons ( La Fortune des Rougon, 1871)
Production ( La Curée, 1872)
Belly of Paris ( Le Ventre de Paris, 1873)
Conquest of Plassans ( La Conquête de Plassans, 1874)
Abbot Mouret's offense La Faute de l"Abbé Mouret, 1875)
His Excellency Eugene Rougon ( Son Excellence Eugene Rougon, 1876)
Trap ( L"Assommoir, 1877)
Love Page ( Une Page d'amour, 1878)
Nana ( Nana, 1880)
Scale ( Pot-Bouille, 1882)
Women's happiness ( Au Bonheur des Dames, 1883)
The joy of life ( La Joie de vivre, 1884)
Germinal ( Germinal, 1885)
Creation ( L'Œuvre, 1886)
Earth ( La Terre, 1887)
Dream ( Le Rêve, 1888)
Beast Man ( La Bête humaine, 1890)
Money ( L'Argent, 1891)
Defeat ( La Débâcle, 1892)
Doctor Pascal ( Le Docteur Pascal, 1893)

Three cities

Lourdes ( Lourdes, 1894)
Rome ( Rome, 1896)
Paris ( Paris, 1898)

Four Gospels

Fertility ( Fécondite, 1899)
Labor ( Travail, 1901)
Truth ( Verite, 1903)
Justice ( Justice, not finished)

Stories

Siege of the mill ( L'attaque du moulin, 1880)
Mrs. Sourdis ( Madame Sourdis, 1880)
Captain Bührl ( Le Capitaine Burle, 1882)

Novels

Tales of Ninon ( Contes a Ninon, 1864)
New Tales of Ninon ( Nouveaux contes à Ninon, 1874)

Plays

Heirs of Rabourdin ( Les heritiers Rabourdin, 1874)
Rosebud ( Le bouton de rose, 1878)
Rene ( Renée, 1887)
Madelena ( Madeleine, 1889)

Literary and journalistic works

What I hate ( Mes haines, 1866)
My salon ( Mon Salon, 1866)
Edouard Manet ( Edouard Manet, 1867)
Experimental novel ( Le Roman experimental, 1880)
Naturalist novelists ( Les romanciers naturalistes, 1881)
Naturalism in the theater ( Le Naturalisme au theater, 1881)
Our playwrights ( Nos auteurs dramatiques, 1881)
Literary documents ( Documents littéraires, 1881)
Hike ( Une campagne, 1882)
New campaign ( Nouvelle campagne, 1897)
Truth walks ( La verité en marche, 1901)

Editions in Russian

Collected works in 18 volumes. – M.: Pravda, 1957. (Library “Ogonyok”).
Collected works in 26 volumes. – M.: State Publishing House of Fiction, 1960–1967. - 300,000 copies.
Collected works in 20 volumes (16 books). – M.: Golos, 1992–1998.
Collected works in 12 volumes. – M.–Tver: Fiction, Alba, 1995–2000.
Collected works in 20 volumes. – M.: Terra, 1996–1998.
Collected works in 16 volumes. – M.: Book Club “Knigovek”, 2011.

Teresa Raquin. Germinal. – M.: Fiction, 1975. (Library of World Literature).
Career of the Rougons. Extraction. – M.: Fiction, 1980. (Library of classics).
Trap. Germinal. – M.: Fiction, 1988. (Library of classics).

Selected literature about Zola

Complete works of E. Zola with illustrations. - P.: Bibliothèque-Charpentier, 1906.
L'Acrienne. - 1860.
Temlinsky S. Zolaism, Critical. sketch, ed. 2nd, rev. and additional - M., 1881.
Boborykin P. D.(V " Domestic notes", 1876, "Bulletin of Europe", 1882, I, and "Observer", 1882, XI, XII)
Arsenyev K.(in "Bulletin of Europe", 1882, VIII; 1883, VI; 1884, XI; 1886, VI; 1891], IV, and in " Critical studies", vol. II, St. Petersburg, 1888)
Andreevich V.// "Bulletin of Europe". - 1892, VII.
Slonimsky L. Zola. // "Bulletin of Europe". - 1892, IX.
Mikhailovsky N.K.(in Complete collected works, vol. VI)
Brandes G.// "Bulletin of Europe". - 1887. - X, to the Collection. composition
Barro E. Zola, his life and literary activity. - St. Petersburg, 1895.
Pelissier J. French literature of the 19th century. - M., 1894.
Shepelevich L. Yu. Our contemporaries. - St. Petersburg, 1899.
Kudrin N. E. (Rusanov). E. Zola, Literary and biographical sketch. - “Russian Wealth”, 1902, X (and in the “Gallery of Modern French Celebrities”, 1906).
Anichkov Evg. E. Zola, “God’s World”, 1903, V (and in the book “Forerunners and Contemporaries”).
Vengerov E. Zola, Critical-biographical essay, “Bulletin of Europe”, 1903, IX (and in “Literary Characteristics”, book II, St. Petersburg, 1905).
Lozinsky Evg. Pedagogical ideas in the works of E. Zola. // “Russian Thought”, 1903, XII.
Veselovsky Yu. E. Zola as a poet and humanist. // “Bulletin of Education”, 1911. - I, II.
Fritsche V. M. E. Zola. - M., 1919.
Fritsche V. M. Essay on the development of Western European literature. - M.: Giza, 1922.
Eichenholtz M. E. Zola (1840-1902). // “Press and Revolution”, 1928, I.
Rod E. A propos de l'Assomoir. - 1879.
Ferdas V. La physiologie expérimentale et le roman expérimental. - P.: Claude Bernard et E. Zola, 1881.
Alexis P. Emile Zola, notes d'un ami. - P., 1882.
Maupassant G.de Emile Zola, 1883.
Hubert. Le roman naturaliste. - 1885.
Wolf E. Zola und die Grenzen von Poesie und Wissenschaft. - Kiel, 1891.
Sherard R.H. Zola: biographical and critical study. - 1893.
Engwer Th. Zola als Kunstkritiker. - B., 1894.
Lotsch F.Über Zolas Sprachgebrauch. - Greifswald, 1895.
Gaufiner. Étude syntaxique sur la langue de Zola. - Bonne, 1895.
Lotsch F. Wörterbuch zu den Werken Zolas und einiger anderen modernen Schriftsteller. - Greifswald, 1896.
Laporte A. Zola vs Zola. - P., 1896.
Moneste J.L. Real Rome: Zola's replica. - 1896.
Rauber A. A. Die Lehren von V. Hugo, L. Tolstoy und Zola. - 1896.
Laporte A. Naturalism or the eternity of literature. E. Zola, Man and Work. - P., 1898.
Bourgeois, a work by Zola. - P., 1898.
Brunetje F. After the trial, 1898.
Burger E. E. Zola, A. Daudet und andere Naturalisten Frankreichs. - Dresden, 1899.
MacDonald A. Emil Zola, a study of his personality. - 1899.
Vizetelly E. A. With Zola in England. - 1899.
Ramond F.C. Characters Roujon-Macquart. - 1901.
Conrad M. G. Von Emil Zola bis G. Hauptmann. Erinnerungen zur Geschichte der Moderne. - Lpz., 1902.
Bouvier. L'œuvre de Zola. - P., 1904.
Vizetelly E. A. Zola, novelist and reformer. - 1904.
Lepelletier E. Emile Zola, sa vie, son œuvre. - P., 1909.
Patterson J. G. Zola: characters of the Rougon-Macquarts novels, with biography. - 1912.
Martino R. Le roman réaliste sous le second Empire. - P., 1913.
Lemm S. Zur Entstehungsgeschichte von Emil Zolas "Rugon-Macquarts" und den "Quatre Evangiles". - Halle a. S., 1913.
Mann H. Macht und Mensch. - Munich, 1919.
Oehlert R. Emil Zola als Theaterdichter. - B., 1920.
Rostand E. Deux romanciers de Provence: H. d'Urfé et E. Zola. - 1921.
Martino P. Le naturalisme français. - 1923.
Seillere E.A.A.L. Emile Zola, 1923: Baillot A., Emile Zola, l’homme, le penseur, le critique, 1924
France A. La vie littéraire. - 1925. - V. I. - Pp. 225-239.
France A. La vie littéraire. - 1926. - V. II (La pureté d’E. Zola, pp. 284-292).
Deffoux L. et Zavie E. Le Groupe de Médan. - P., 1927.
Josephson Matthew. Zola and his time. - N. Y., 1928.
Doucet F. L'esthétique de Zola et son application à la critique, La Haye, s. a.
Bainville J. Au seuil du siècle, études critiques, E. Zola. - P., 1929.
Les soirées de Médan, 17/IV 1880 - 17/IV 1930, avec une préface inédite de Léon Hennique. - P., 1930.
Piksanov N.K., Two centuries of Russian literature. - ed. 2nd. - M.: Giza, 1924.
Mandelstam R. S. Fiction in the assessment of Russian Marxist criticism. - ed. 4th. - M.: Giza, 1928.
Laporte A. Emile Zola, l'homme et l'œuvre, avec bibliographie. - 1894. - Pp. 247-294.

Film adaptations

Victims of alcohol / Les victimes d’alcoolisme (France, 1902) (based on the novel “The Trap”)
In a black country / Au pays noir (France, 1905) (based on the novel “Germinal”)
The Trap / L’assommoir (France, 1909)
Trap / Faldgruben (Denmark, 1909)
The attack on the mill (USA, 1910)
Victims of alcohol / Les victimes d’alcoolisme (France, 1911) (based on the novel “The Trap”)
In the Land of Darkness / Au pays des ténèbres (France, 1912) (based on the novel “Germinal”)
Page of Love / Una pagina d'amore (Italy, 1912)
The Man-Beast (France, 1912) (possibly unrelated to Zola's novel)
Germinal / Germinal (France, 1913)
Limit the Nations / Gränsfolken (Sweden, 1913)
Miracle / Miraklet (Sweden, 1913) (based on the novel “Lourdes”)
Money / Penge (Denmark, 1914)
Slaves of luxury and fashion (Russia, 1915) (based on the novel “Ladies' Happiness”)
Destruction (USA, 1915) (based on the novel “Labor”)
Therese Raquin / Therese Raquin (Italy, 1915)
Frozen / The marble heart (USA, 1916) (based on the novel “Thérèse Raquin”)
A man and the woman (USA, 1917) (based on the novel “Nana”)
Pleasure / La cuccagna (Italy, 1917) (based on the novel “Prey”)
Drunkenness / Drink (Great Britain, 1917) (based on the novel “The Trap”)
Labor (Russia, 1917)
Man-Beast (Russia, 1917)
Money / A penz (Hungary, 1919)
Nana / Nana (Hungary, 1919)
Femme fatale / Una donna funesta (Italy, 1919)
Teresa Raquin (Russia, 1919)
Labor / Travail, (France, 1919)
Maddalena Ferrat (Italy, 1920)
The Man-Beast / Die bestie im menschen (Germany, 1920)
The Trap / L’assommoir (France, 1921)
Earth / La terre (France, 1921)
The Dream / La reve (France, 1921)
Ladies' happiness / Zum paradies des damen (Germany, 1922)
For a night of love / Pour une nuit d’amour (France, 1923)
Page of Love / Una pagina d'amore (Italy, 1923)
Nantas / Nantas (France, 1925)
Nana / Nana (France, 1926)
Money / L'argent (France, 1928)
Therese Raquin / Therese Raquin (Germany, 1928)
The Beast Man (La bête humaine), 1938
Thérèse Raquin, 1953
Gervaise, 1956
Other people's wives (Pot-Bouille), 1957
The Prey (La curée), 1966
Misdemeanor of Abbe Mouret, 1970
Zandali, 1991 (based on "Thérèse Raquin")
Germinal, 1993
At the End of the World / Na koniec świata (Poland, 1999) - based on the novel “Therese Raquin”, starring Justyna Stechkowska and Alexander Domogarov
“The Age of Maupassant. Tales and stories of the 19th century", television series, series based on the novel “For a Night of Love” (“Pour une nuit d’amour”), 2009 (France)
Ladies' Happiness (TV series), 2012
Teresa Raquin ( In Secret) is a 2013 film directed by Charlie Stratton.

Emile Zola (1840-1902), French writer.

Born in Paris. The early death of his father led to the fact that Zola grew up in poverty and went to work early (he started as a clerk in a publishing house); from 1865 he made his living by publishing poetry, short stories and literary criticism.

In 1867, Zola's first significant novel, Thérèse Raquin, was published. With this novel, Zola “founded” a new literary movement - naturalism.

The main work is the 20-volume series of novels “Rougon-Macquart” (1871-93) the story of one family during the era of the Second Empire. In the novels of the series “The Belly of Paris” (1873), “The Trap” (1877), “Germinal” (1885), “Money” (1891), “Destruction” (1892) depicted with great realistic force social contradictions. Zola is a supporter of the principles of naturalism (book “The Experimental Novel”, 1880). He protested in the pamphlet “I Accuse,” 1898. This letter-pamphlet was directed against French officials who falsely accused artillery officer Alfred Dreyfus of treason (the famous “Dreyfus Affair”).

Zola's work has had a significant influence on modern literature.

French writer

Born April 2, 1840 in Paris, in an Italian-French family: his father was Italian, a civil engineer.

Children's and school years Zola spends time in Aix-en-Provence, where the artist Paul Cézanne becomes one of his closest friends.

1847 – Zola’s father dies, leaving the family in disarray.

1852 – Zola begins his studies at college.

1858 - counting on the help of friends of her late husband, Madame Zola moves with her son to Paris, where he continues his education at the Lyceum.

1862-1866 - Zola works at the publishing house "Ashet", and then quits in the hope of ensuring his existence through literary work.

1864 - Zola collects romantic stories and novellas written by him at different times and publishes them under common name"Tales of Ninon" (Contes a Ninon).

1865 - Zola publishes his first novel - a frank, veiled autobiography, La Confession de Claude.

1867 - the novel “The Mysteries of Marseille” (Les mysteres de Marseille), demonstrating Zola’s skill as a feuilletonist and his interest in social problems. Also this year, the final work of the young Zola is published - the novel Therese Raquin - a deep study of the feelings of remorse befalling a murderer and his accomplice.

1868 - Zola conceives the idea of a series of novels dedicated to one family (“Rougon-Macquart. Natural and social history of one family in the era of the Second Empire” - Les Rougun-Macquart, histoire naturelle et sociale d'une famille sous le Second Empire), fate which has been studied for four to five generations. Focusing on " The human comedy"Balzac and his panoramic depiction of reality, Zola does not abandon his naturalistic doctrine. He considers the first task of his cycle to be the study of issues of heredity and environment using the example of one family. The Rougon-Macquarts are the offspring of a feeble-minded woman who dies in last volume series, having reached the age of one hundred and completely lost his mind. From her children - one legitimate and two illegitimate - three branches of the family originate. The second task of the cycle, as the writer formulates it: “to study the entire Second Empire, from the coup d’etat to the present day. To embody modern society, villains and heroes in types.” This intention of Zola directly refers to Balzac's understanding of the writer as a “secretary of society.”

The first books in the series are not very interesting.

1871 - the first novel from the Rougon-Macquart series, “The Rougon Career” (La fortuna des Rougon), a kind of prologue telling about the origins of the Rougon-Macquart family and at the same time about the emergence of the Second Empire regime, and the second novel about representatives of the prosperous branch of the family, “Spoils” "(La Curee).

1973 - the third novel about representatives of the third branch, the Macquarts, who are distinguished by extreme instability, since their ancestor Antoine Macquart was an alcoholic - “The Belly of Paris” (Le Ventre de Paris), in which the atmosphere of the central market of the capital is recreated.

1874 – fourth novel, “The Conquest of Plassans” (Le ventre de Paris).

1875 - the fifth novel about the second branch of the Rougon-Macquart family, “The Misdemeanor of Abbe Mouret” (La Faute de l "Abbe Mouret).

1876 - the sixth novel in the Rougon-Macquart series about representatives of the prosperous branch of the family "His Excellency Eugene Rougon" (Son Excellence Eugene Rougon) - an examination of the political machinations during the reign of Napoleon III.

1877 - the seventh volume of Rougon-Macquart, “The Trap” (L "Assommoir), is published, which gained great success and brought Zola both fame and wealth. He acquires a house in Meudon near Paris and gathers young writers around him (among them were K Huysmans and Guy de Maupassant), who formed the short-lived “naturalistic school”.

1878 – eighth novel “Page of Love” (Une page d’amour).

1880 – ninth novel “Nana”, the heroine of which, a representative of the third generation of Mackars, becomes a prostitute and her sexual magnetism confuses high society.

1882 - the tenth novel about the second branch of the Rougon-Macquart family, the Mouret family, “Scum” (Pot-Bouille).

1883 - the eleventh novel about the second branch of the Rougon-Macquart family, “Ladies' Happiness” (Au Bonheur des dames).

1884 – twelfth novel “The Joy of Life” (La joie de vivre).

1885 – thirteenth novel “Germinal”, dedicated to the miners’ strike in the mines of northern France.

1886 - the fourteenth novel “Creativity” (L"Oeuvre), which includes characteristics of many famous artists and writers of the era.

1887 - fifteenth novel “Earth” (La Terre), telling about peasant life.

1888 – sixteenth novel “The Dream” (Le reve).

1890 – seventeenth novel “The Man-Beast” (La Bete humaine), which describes the life of railway workers.

1891 - the eighteenth novel from the Rougon-Macquart series about representatives of a prosperous branch of the family - “Money” (L "Argent), which deals with speculation land ownership and securities.

1892 - Nineteenth novel La Debacle - a depiction of the Franco-Prussian War and the first major war novel in French literature.

1893 – the twentieth novel “Doctor Pascal” (Le docteur Pascal), which ends the Rougon-Macquart cycle.

1894-1898 – cycle “Three Cities” (Les Trois Villes) – “Lourdes” (Lourdes, 1894), “Rome” (Rome, 1896), “Paris” (Paris, 1898).

1898 - Zola writes an open letter to the President of the Republic “I Accuse” (J"accuse), which contains an exposure of the army elite, which bears the main responsibility for the obvious miscarriage of justice in the Dreyfus case (1897-1898), an officer of the French general staff, a Jew by nationality, unjustly convicted of selling military secrets to Germany in 1894. Because of this letter, Zola had to flee to England, as he was accused of libel and sentenced to a year in prison.

1899 - After the situation changes in Dreyfus's favor, Zola returns to France.

1899-1902 - the cycle “The Four Gospels” (Les Quatre Evangiles), which remained unfinished (the fourth volume was not written).

September 28, 1902 – Zola died suddenly in his Paris apartment. The cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning - an “accident,” according to some historians, set up by the writer’s political enemies.

Zola became the first novelist to create a series of books about members of the same family. Many writers followed his example, incl. J. Duhamel (Pasquier's chronicles), D. Galsworthy ("The Forsyte Saga") and D. Masters (books about the Savages) and many others. In addition, Zola is the author of the theory of the experimental novel. The new one he created literary genre he calls it this way, wanting to emphasize that in his artistic work he uses scientific method accurate observation and objective description.

Brief literary encyclopedia: At 8vt. M.: Soviet encyclopedia, 1962. Foreign writers: Biographical Dictionary. - M.: Education, Educational literature, 1997.

ZOLYA (Zola) Emile (1840-1902), French writer. The main work is the 20-volume series of novels "Rougon-Macquart" (1871-93) - the story of one family during the era of the Second Empire. In the novels of the series “The Belly of Paris” (1873), “The Trap” (1877), “Germinal” (1885), “Money” (1891), “Devastation” (1892), social contradictions are depicted with great realistic force. Zola is a supporter of the principles of naturalism (book “The Experimental Novel”, 1880). He protested against the Dreyfus affair (pamphlet “I Accuse,” 1898).

ZOLYA (Zola) Emil ( full name Emile Edouard Charles Antoine) (April 2, 1840, Paris - September 28, 1902, ibid.), French writer.

Creative path

Zola was born into a mixed Italian-French family. His father, an engineer who came from an old Venetian family, entered into a contract to participate in the construction of a canal that was supposed to provide water to Aix-en-Provence. In this town, which became the prototype of Plassans in the Rougon-Macquart cycle, the writer spent his childhood and received his education. He studied with Paul Cézanne, who later introduced him to the circle of impressionist artists.

In 1857, Emil's father suddenly died, leaving the family with very modest savings, and a year later the widow decided to go with her son to Paris, hoping to receive support from her late husband's friends. Zola worked odd jobs until, at the beginning of 1862, he joined the Ashet publishing house, where he worked for about four years. At the same time, he wrote articles for periodicals, and in 1864 he published the first collection of stories, Tales of Ninon. In 1865, his first, semi-autobiographical, novel, “Claude’s Confession,” appeared. The book brought him fame, which increased even more thanks to his brilliant speech in defense of the paintings of Edouard Manet on the pages of the review of the art exhibition of 1866.

In the preface to the novel “Thérèse Raquin” (1867), Zola first formulated the essence of the naturalistic method: fascinated by the ideas of document literature, he set as his goal the creation of a “scientific novel”, which would include data from the natural sciences, medicine and physiology. In the novel "Madeleine Ferat" (1868), the writer made the first attempt to show the laws of heredity in action. Around this time, he conceived the idea of creating a series of novels dedicated to one family, whose fate is explored over five generations.

In 1870, Zola married Gabrielle-Alexandrina Mele, and in 1873 he purchased a house in Medan (near Paris), where young writers began to gather, forming a short-lived “naturalistic school.” In 1880 they published a collection of short stories, Medan Evenings. Zola himself published collections of articles “The Experimental Novel” (1880) and “Naturalist Novelists” (1881) - theoretical works designed to explain the essence of the new method: the character, temperament and behavior of a person are determined by the laws of heredity, the environment and the historical moment, and the task of the writer is an objective depiction of an exact moment under certain conditions.

IN last years Zola created two more cycles in his life: "Three Cities" ("Lourdes", 1894; "Rome", 1896; "Paris", 1898) and "Four Gospels" ("Fruitfulness", 1899; "Labor", 1901; "Truth" , published 1903). Books of the first cycle are combined ideological quests main character - Pierre Froment. The second cycle, which remained unfinished (the fourth volume was not written), is a social utopia in which the writer tried to realize his dream of the future triumph of reason and labor.

Dreyfus affair

At the end of his life, Zola enjoyed worldwide fame and was considered - after the death of Victor Hugo - the most outstanding figure among all living French writers. His reputation was strengthened by his intervention in the Dreyfus affair: Zola became convinced that this officer of the French general staff, a Jew by nationality, had been unjustly convicted of espionage in 1894. The exposure of the army elite, who bear the main responsibility for the obvious miscarriage of justice, took the form of an open letter to the President of the Republic with the title “I Accuse” (1898). As a result, Zola was convicted of "libel" and sentenced to a year in prison. He had to flee to England, and he returned to his homeland only in June 1900, when the situation changed in favor of Dreyfus. The writer died suddenly: the cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning, but this “accident” was most likely orchestrated by his political enemies. At the funeral, Anatole France called his brother “the conscience of the nation.” In 1908, Zola's remains were transferred to the Pantheon. During his lifetime he was never elected to the French Academy, although he was nominated no less than nineteen times.

Family saga

Zola gave his grandiose epic the title “Rugon-Macquart. Natural and social history of one family in the era of the Second Empire” (1871-1893). The original plan included ten novels, but turbulent historical events (the Franco-Prussian War and the Commune) prompted the writer to expand the scope of the cycle, which in its final form contains twenty novels. The Rougon-Macquarts are the offspring of a feeble-minded woman who dies in the last volume of the series, having reached the age of one hundred and completely lost her mind. From her children - one legitimate and two illegitimate - three branches of the clan originate. The first of them is represented by the prosperous Rougons. Members of this family appear in such novels as The Rougons' Career (1871), which takes place in the small town of Plassans in December 1851 - on the eve of Louis Bonaparte's coup d'état; His Excellency Eugene Rougon (1876), which explores the political machinations of Napoleon III; "Money" (1891), dedicated to speculation in land property and securities. The second branch of the genus is the Mouret family. Octave Mouret, the ambitious philanderer in La Lime (1882), creates one of the first Parisian department stores in the pages of Ladies' Happiness (1883), while other members of the family lead very modest lives, like the village priest in The Misdemeanor of the Abbé Mouret (1883). 1875).

Representatives of the third branch are extremely unbalanced, since their progenitor was an alcoholic. Members of this family - the Macquarts and Lantiers - play outstanding role in Zola's most powerful novels. “The Belly of Paris” (1873) depicts the central market, against the backdrop of which the story of the brothers Florent and Quenu unfolds: the first of them was sent to hard labor for participating in the December events of 1851 - when he returned, he saw a giant marketplace on the site of former battles; During this time, Quenu grew up and married the beautiful Lisa, the daughter of the Macquarts from Plassans. Everyone considers Florent a “red”, and he really dreams of a new uprising. Based on the denunciation of several traders, including Lisa, he is again sent into exile, from where he will not be destined to return. The novel ends with Florent's friend, the artist Claude Lantier, walking around the market, where Lisa, who embodies the triumph of the womb, is laying out tongues and hams on the counter. In the novel "Nana" (1880) the main actor Anna is the daughter of the drunken washerwoman Gervaise Macquart and the crippled worker Coupeau from the novel “The Trap” (1877). Economic circumstances and hereditary inclinations make her an actress and then a courtesan. From her comes a crazy call of the flesh, which drives men crazy and enslaves them. In 1870, just before the start of the fatal war with Prussia for France, Nana fell ill with smallpox and died at the age of eighteen: her beautiful face turned into a purulent mask under the joyful cries of the patriots: “To Berlin! To Berlin!” “Germinal” (1885) depicts a strike of miners, led by an alien - mechanic Etienne Lantier. He meets the Russian socialist Souvarine, who, in the name of the triumph of the revolution, cuts down the supports in the mine. Etienne’s beloved dies in a stream of water, and he himself leaves the village: from underground the dull blows of a pick can be heard from under the ground - work is in full swing in all the recently struck mines. In the novel "Creativity" (1886), both main characters come to Paris from Plassans. The novelist Sandoz and the artist Claude Lantier (whose prototypes were considered by contemporaries to be Zola and Cézanne) are champions of the new art. Dreaming of a synthesis of literature and science, Sandoz conceives a gigantic novel series that would cover and explain the entire history of mankind. Claude is even more obsessed with his plans, and creativity becomes real torture for him. In November 1870 he was found hanging in a noose in front of an unfinished painting for which his wife Christina posed for him. Sandoz burns this failed masterpiece in a rage, and at the funeral of the genius, of whom nothing remains, he blames everything on the end of the century with its rot and decay: the air of the era is poisoned - the century, which began with clarity and rationalism, ends with a new wave of obscurantism.

Zola Emile (1840-1902)

French writer. Born on April 2, 1840 in Paris, into an Italian-French family: his father was an Italian, a civil engineer. Emile spent his childhood and school years in Aix-en-Provence, where one of his closest friends was the artist P. Cezanne. He was less than seven years old when his father died, leaving the family in dire straits. In 1858, counting on the help of friends of her late husband, Madame Zola moved with her son to Paris.

At the beginning of 1862, Emil managed to find a place at the Ashet publishing house. After working for about four years, he quit in the hope of ensuring his existence through literary work. In 1865, Zola published his first novel, a harsh, thinly veiled autobiography, Confessions of Claude. The book brought him notoriety, which was further multiplied by the ardent defense of E. Manet’s painting in his review of the art exhibition of 1866.

Around 1868, Zola conceived the idea of a series of novels dedicated to one family (the Rougon-Macquarts), whose fate is explored over four or five generations. The first books in the series did not arouse much interest, but the seventh volume, “The Trap,” achieved great success and brought Zola both fame and fortune. Subsequent novels in the series were met with enormous interest - they were reviled and praised with equal zeal.

The twenty volumes of the Rougon-Macquart cycle represent Zola's main literary achievement, although it is also necessary to note the earlier Thérèse Raquin. In the last years of his life, Zola created two more cycles: “Three Cities” - “Lourdes”, “Rome”, “Paris”; and The Four Gospels (the fourth volume was never written). Zola became the first novelist to create a series of books about members of the same family. One of the reasons that prompted Zola to choose the structure of the cycle was the desire to show the operation of the laws of heredity.

By the time the cycle was completed (1903), Zola enjoyed worldwide fame and, by all accounts, was the largest writer in France after V. Hugo. All the more sensational was his intervention in the Dreyfus affair (1897-1898). Zola became convinced that Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer of the French General Staff, had been unfairly convicted in 1894 of selling military secrets to Germany.

The exposure of the army leadership, which bears the main responsibility for the obvious miscarriage of justice, took the form of an open letter to the President of the Republic with the title “I Accuse.” Sentenced to a year in prison for libel, Zola fled to England and was able to return to his homeland in 1899, when the situation changed in favor of Dreyfus.

On September 28, 1902, Zola died suddenly in his Paris apartment. The cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning, an “accident” most likely set up by his political enemies.