Zola was born in Paris. His father was an Italian engineer, who had French citizenship in 1862. In his Zola spent his childhood in Provence and moved to Paris in 1858. In his youth he became friends with the painter Paul Cézanne and started to write under the influence of the romantics. His widowed mother planned for Zola a career in law. However, Zola failed his baccalaureat examination - as later did the writer Anatole France who failed several times but finally passed it.

Before his breakthrough as a writer Zola worked as a clerk in a shipping firm and then in sales departmet of the publishing house of Louis-Christophe-Francois-Hachette. He was also a literary columnist and art critic on the Cartier de Villemessant's newspapers.

During his formative years Zola wrote several short stories and essays, 4 plays and 3 novels. Among his early books was CONTES Á NINON, which was published in 1864. When his sordid autobiographical novel LA CONFESSION DE CLAUDE appeared in 1865 and atracted the attention of the police, Zola was fired from Hachette.

After his first major novel, THÉRÈSE RAQUIN (1867) Zola started the long series called LE ROUGON-MACQUART, the natural and social history of a family under the Second Empire. He presented the idea to his publisher in 1868. At first the plan was limited to 10 books, but ultimately the series comprised 20 volumes, ranging in subject from the world of peasants and workers to the imperial court.

The appearance of L'ASSOMMOIR (Drunkard, 1877), a depiction of alcoholism, made Zola the best-known writer in France. He bought an estate at Médan and attracted imitators and disciplines. Inspired by Claude Bernard's Introduction à la médecine expérimentale (1865) Zola tried to adjust scientific principles in the process of observing society and interpreting it in fiction. The treatise, LE ROMAN EXPÉRIMENTAL (1880) manifested Zola's faith in science and acceptance of scientific determinism.

In 1885 Zola published one of his finest works, GERMINAL. It was first major work on a strike, based on his research notes on labor conditions in the coal mines.

Also notable in Zola's career was his involvement in the Dreyfus affair with his open letter J'ACCUSE. Alfred Dreyfus (1859-1935) was a French Jewish army officer, who was falsely charged with giving military secrets to the Germans. He was transported to Devil's Island in French Guiana. The case was tried again in 1899 and he was found first guilty and pardoned and later the verdict was reversed. During the process Zola was sentenced to imprisonment in 1898 and removed from the roll of the Legion of Honor. He escaped to England, a returned after Dreyfus had been cleared.

Zola died on September 28, in 1902, under mysterious circumstances, overcome by carbon monoxide fumes in his sleep. At Zola's funeral Anatole France declared. 'He was a moment of the human conscience.' In 1908 Zola's remains were transported to the Panthéon.

SEE ALSO: Wladyslaw Reymont, Guy de Maupassant, Gore Vidal

For further reading: Emile Zola by Angus Wilson (1952); Zola's 'Germinal' by Elliott M. Grant (1962); A Zola Dictionary by I.G. Patterson (1969); Emile Zola: A Selective Analytical Bibliography, ed. by Brian Nelson (1982); Emile Zola: 'L'Assommir' by David Baguley (1992); Emile Zola Revisited by William J. Berg and Laurey K. Martin (1992)

Museum: Maison d'Emile Zola, 26 rue Pasteur, 78670, Medan, Yvelines - Zola's home from 1878

Selected works:

• CONTES Á NINON, 1864
• LA CONFESSION DE CLAUDE, 1865
• MES HAINES, 1866
• MON SALON, 1866
• THÉRÈRE RAQUIN, 1867
• EDOUART MANET, 1867
• LES MYSTÈRES DE MARSEILLE, 1867
• MADELEINE FÉRAT, 1869
• ROUGON-MACQUART CYCLE, 1871-93, 20 novels totally, starting with LA FORTUNE DES ROUGON, 1871; LA CURÉE, 1874; LE VENTRE DE PARIS, 1874; LA CONQUÊTE DE PLASSANS, 1874; LA FAUTE DE L'ABBÉ MOURET, 1875; SON EXCELLENCE EUGÈNE ROUGON, 1876; L'ASSOMMOIR, 1877; UNE PAGE D'AMOUR, 1878; NANA, 1880; POT-BOUILLE, 1882; AU BONHEUR DES DAMES, 1883; LA JOIE DE VIVRE, 1884, GERMINAL, 1885; L'ŒUVRE, 1886; LA TERRE, 1887; LE RÊVE, 1888; LA BÊTE HUMAINE, 1890; L'ARGENT, 1891; LA DÉBÂCLE, 1892; LE DOCTEUR PASCAL, 1893
• NOUVEAUX CONTES À NINON, 1874
• L'ASSOMMOIR, 1877 - Drunkard
• THÉÂTRE, 1878
• LA RÉPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE AT LA LITTÉRATURE, 1879
• NANA, 1880 - suom.- films: 1925, dir. by Jean Renoir; 1934, dir, by Dorothy Arzner; 1954, dir. by Christian-Jacque
• LE ROMAN EXPÉRIMENTALE, 1880
• LES SOIRÉES DE MÉDAN, 1880
• LES ROMACIERS NATURALISTES, 1881
• LE NATURALISME AU THÉÂTRE, 1881
• NOS AUTEURS DRAMATIQUES, 1881
• DOCUMENTS LITTÉRAIRES, ÉTUDES AT PORTRAITS, 1881
• AU BONHEUR DES DAMES, 1883
• NAÏS MICOULIN, 1884
• GERMINAL, 1885
• L'OUVRE, 1886
• L'AFFAIRE DFEYFUS: LETTRE À LA JEUNESSE, 1887
• LA TERRE, 1887 - Earth
• LE RÊVE, 1888 - Unelma - film 1921, dir. by Jacques de Baroncelli
• LA BÊTE HUMAINE, 1890 - The Beast in Man - Ihmispeto - films: 1938, dir. by Jean Renoir; 1954 (Human Desire), dir. by Fritz Lang
• L'ARGENT, 1891 - Raha - films: 1928, dir. by Marcel L'Herbier
• DÉBÂCLE, 1892
• LES TROIS VILLES: LOURDES (1894); ROME (1896); PARIS (1898)
• NOUVELLE CAMPAGNE, 1897
• LES QQUATRE ÉVANGILES: FÉCONDITE, 1899 - Hedelmälisyys; LE TRAVAIL, 1901; LA VÉRITÉ, 1903 ; LA JUSTICE (unfinished)
• LA VÉRITÉ EN MARCHE, 1901
• ŒUVRES COMPLÈTES
, 1927-29 (50 vols.)
• MADAME SOURDIS, 1929
• CONTES ET NOUVELLES, 1976
• CORRESPONDANCE 1858-1877, 980

Other film adaptations: Thérèse Raquin, 1953, dir.by Marcel Carne; Gervaise, 1955, dir. by René Clément; Pot-Bouille, 1957, dir. by Julien Duvivier; La curée, 1966, dir. by Roger Vadim; La faute de Abbe Mouret, 1970, dir. by Georges Franju