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Émile Zola

2 April 1840 – 28 September 1902

4,479 works in the book catalog catalog

Biography

Emile Zola was a French journalist and novelist known for his series of 20 novels known collectively as Les Rougon-Macquart (1871-93). Zola's style was called literary naturalism; his novels were attacked and even banned for their frankness and sordid detail, and caused quite a bit of controversy in their day. The same traits made him a best-selling author and a star of French literature in his day. In 1898 he then further incurred the wrath of French officials when he published the open letter "J'Accuse," in defense of Alfred Dreyfus, an Army officer who had been convicted of treason. Zola was sentenced to prison for libel, fled to England, and was granted amnesty a few months later. He died in Paris from carbon monoxide poisoning -- the victim of a stopped-up chimney -- a few months before Dreyfus was officially exonerated. (Source)

Also published as: Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola, Эмиль Золя, Emile Zola, Émile Zola, EMİLE ZOLA, Émile 1840-1902 Assommoir Zola

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