Émile Zola’s Followers (3,981)

Émile Zola

Born

in Paris, France

April 02, 1840

Died

September 29, 1902

Genre

Fiction, Short Stories

Influences

Honoré de Balzac, Stendhal, Hippolyte Taine, Charles Darwin, Gustave F ...more

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Émile François Zola was an influential French novelist, the most important example of the literary school of naturalism, and a major figure in the political liberalization of France.

More than half of Zola's novels were part of a set of 20 books collectively known as Les Rougon-Macquart. Unlike Balzac who in the midst of his literary career resynthesized his work into La Comédie Humaine, Zola from the start at the age of 28 had thought of the complete layout of the series. Set in France's Second Empire, the series traces the "environmental" influences of violence, alcohol and prostitution which became more prevalent during the second wave of the Industrial Revolution. The series examines two branches of a family: the respectable (that is, le Émile François Zola was an influential French novelist, the most important example of the literary school of naturalism, and a major figure in the political liberalization of France.

More than half of Zola's novels were part of a set of 20 books collectively known as Les Rougon-Macquart. Unlike Balzac who in the midst of his literary career resynthesized his work into La Comédie Humaine, Zola from the start at the age of 28 had thought of the complete layout of the series. Set in France's Second Empire, the series traces the "environmental" influences of violence, alcohol and prostitution which became more prevalent during the second wave of the Industrial Revolution. The series examines two branches of a family: the respectable (that is, legitimate) Rougons and the disreputable (illegitimate) Macquarts for five generations.

As he described his plans for the series, "I want to portray, at the outset of a century of liberty and truth, a family that cannot restrain itself in its rush to possess all the good things that progress is making available and is derailed by its own momentum, the fatal convulsions that accompany the birth of a new world."

Although Zola and Cézanne were friends from childhood, they broke in later life over Zola's fictionalized depiction of Cézanne and the Bohemian life of painters in his novel L'Œuvre (The Masterpiece, 1886).

From 1877 with the publication of L'Assommoir, Émile Zola became wealthy, he was better paid than Victor Hugo, for example. He became a figurehead among the literary bourgeoisie and organized cultural dinners with Guy de Maupassant, Joris-Karl Huysmans and other writers at his luxurious villa in Medan near Paris after 1880. Germinal in 1885, then the three 'cities', Lourdes in 1894, Rome in 1896 and Paris in 1897, established Zola as a successful author.

The self-proclaimed leader of French naturalism, Zola's works inspired operas such as those of Gustave Charpentier, notably Louise in the 1890s. His works, inspired by the concepts of heredity (Claude Bernard), social manichaeism and idealistic socialism, resonate with those of Nadar, Manet and subsequently Flaubert. ...more

Combine Editions
Émile Zola’s books

Average rating: 3.93 · 209,144 ratings · 14,928 reviews · 2,877 distinct works • Similar authors

	Germinal 4.19 avg rating — 39,062 ratings — published 1885 — 1403 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Thérèse Raquin 3.73 avg rating — 34,044 ratings — published 1867 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Nana 3.84 avg rating — 25,663 ratings — published 1880 — 1386 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Ladies' Paradise (Les Rougon-Macquart #11) 3.98 avg rating — 18,225 ratings — published 1883 — 816 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	L'Assommoir by Émile Zola, Robin Buss (Translator) 4.08 avg rating — 17,485 ratings — published 1876 — 1027 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	La Bête humaine by Émile Zola, Henri Mitterand (Editor) 4.04 avg rating — 11,921 ratings — published 1890 — 528 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Fortune of the Rougons (Les Rougon-Macquart, #1) 3.89 avg rating — 7,249 ratings — published 1871 — 667 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Belly of Paris (Les Rougon-Macquart, #3) by Émile Zola, Ernest Alfred Vizetelly (Translator) 3.92 avg rating — 6,572 ratings — published 1873 — 663 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	La Curée 3.87 avg rating — 5,618 ratings — published 1871 — 461 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Masterpiece 3.98 avg rating — 4,850 ratings — published 1886 — 536 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Émile Zola…

Series by Émile Zola

Les Rougon-Macquart (20 books)
by

Émile Zola,

Robin Buss (Translator)

3.99 avg rating — 158,755 ratings

Les Rougon-Macquart (20 books)
by

Émile Zola,

Brian Nelson (Translator)

3.99 avg rating — 158,645 ratings

Three Cities Trilogy (3 books)
by

Émile Zola

3.86 avg rating — 566 ratings

Les Quatre Évangiles (3 books)
by

Émile Zola,

Ernest Alfred Vizetelly (Translator)

4.01 avg rating — 279 ratings

Stories for Ninon (2 books)
by

Émile Zola

3.31 avg rating — 91 ratings

More series by Émile Zola…

We all have our reading bucket lists. James Mustich's 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die is bound to seriously expand that list...

Polls

March 2015 Old School Classics Poll

Which book would you like to read for our March 2015 Old School Classics group read?

1864, Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 233 pages

14 votes, 28.0%

1868, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, 449 pages

11 votes, 22.0%

1895, The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, 170 pages

4 votes, 8.0%

1899, The Awakening by Kate Chopin, 195 pages

4 votes, 8.0%

Beowulf: A New Verse Translation by Unknown, 213 pages

4 votes, 8.0%

1839, The Charterhouse of Parma by Stendhal, 532 pages

3 votes, 6.0%

1853, Bleak House by Charles Dickens, 1017 pages

3 votes, 6.0%

1846, The Professor by Charlotte Brontë, 269 pages

2 votes, 4.0%

1603, Hamlet by William Shakespeare, 289 pages

2 votes, 4.0%

1844, Queen Margot, or Marguerite de Valois by Alexandre Dumas, 542 pages

1 vote, 2.0%

1826, The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper, 410 pages

1 vote, 2.0%

1867, Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola, 201 pages

1 vote, 2.0%

50 total votes

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Émile Zola’s Followers (3,981)

Émile Zola

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Émile Zola’s books