Zola
Zola, Emile-Edouard-Charles-Antoine
ACHIEVEMENTS: Major French social novelist
NICKNAME/ALIAS: None
DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: April 2, 1840, Paris, France
DATE AND PLACE OF DEATH/AGE AT DEATH: September 28, 1902, Paris, France.
Aged 62
DISCIPLINE: Novelist, critic, political activist
FIELD: Journalism/literature.
LANGUAGE: French
PARENTS: Francesco Zola, civil engineer; Emilie Aurelie Aubert
SIBLINGS: None
SPOUSE: Gabrielle-Alexandrine Meley
CHILDREN: (by Jeanne Rozerot) Two, Jacques and Denise
EDUCATION: Pension Notre Dame; Aix-en-Provence College, Bourbon,
Aix-en-Provence (now the Lycee d'Aix) Lycee Saint-Louis, Paris
MAJOR WORK: "Germinal", 1885
LIFE AND TIMES:
Zola spent his childhood in Aix-en-Provence, in the south of France. When he was seven, his father died, leaving the family poor. But a scholarship enabled Zola to go to the College Bourbon where he mixed with the sons of the wealthy, one of whom, Cezanne*, became his greatest friend. At 18, Zola joined his mother in Paris, where she had gone to get financial help from her husband's relatives.
From 1859 until 1862, he was mainly unemployed and lived in extreme poverty. Since his education taught him no practical trade, he avoided applying for jobs, but when he did, his appearance worked against him. He was a timid man, gaunt, usually shabbily dressed. Zola made up his mind to become an author, and dreamed of writing an epic poem about the history of the earth.
In 1862, Zola got work in the Hatchette publishing firm. To supplement his income, he wrote articles for periodicals while continuing to write his books.
Through Cezanne, he met other Impressionist painters. In 1863, he went to the Salon des Refuses to support Manet*, whose "Dejeuner sur l'Herbe" was being viciously attacked by the public. In 1865, his first novel, "La Confession de Claude", shocked readers.
Zola continued to write articles for periodicals and publish novels. He read widely and his time at Hatchette exposed him to new authors and ideas. He familiarized himself with Charles Darwin’s* work on evolution, which was translated into French in 1852.
Zola's artist friends were finding new ways of painting, and in 1865, Zola started arranging Thursday evening meetings for Cezanne and Pissarro*. They used the term "naturalism"* for what they tried to express, combining scientific realism and "romantic pantheism". Zola wanted to d the same in his writing.
The novel, "Therese Raquin", shows how Zola's work was influenced by the concept of naturalism. Zola explained, "I have chosen persons completely dominated by their nerves and blood, devoid of free will, let into every act of their lives by the fatalities of their flesh". In "Madeleine Ferat", published in 1868 when he was 28, Zola attempted to write about the scientific principles of heredity.
He then planned a series of novels about a family, each book about a different member, which would illustrate the deterministic influence of heredity. The first volume, "La Fortune des Rougon," came out in 1870. The series of 20 novels, completed in 1893, is the work for which Zola is best known.
Zola always found time to socialize with artists. In his articles, he defended the work of Impressionists Monet*, Degas* and Renoir*. He also frequented writers Flaubert*, and Turgenev*. His left wing politics almost landed him in prison during the Franco- Prussian war, thanks to an article he wrote deploring the war and the policies of Napoleon III*.
In 1878, Zola moved to a house on the Seine, just outside Paris, which became a meeting place for like-minded intellectuals. With two of these, Maupassant* and Joris-Karl Huysmans, he published a collection of short stories called "Les Soirees de Medan." In 1885, his masterwork "Germinal", was published, a harsh depiction of life in a mining community. Zola examined the lives of the bourgeoisie and the working class, and presented his ideas on trade unionism, anarchism and Marxism.
In 1886, his artist friends were shaken by the publication of his novel "L'Oeuvre", in which a painter who fails in fulfilling his creativity hangs himself in front of his last painting. Cezanne, who had gone through similar bouts of self doubt and whom Zola had comforted and encouraged, took offence at the novel, as did others.
In 1887, Zola published "La Terre", a bleak depiction of peasant life. And in 1892, he aroused the ire of officialdom with "La Debacle", which, in stark terms, takes the government and army to task for their handling of the Franco-Prussian war.
Although he was nominated 19 times, Zola never gained entry to the French Academy. In 1898, Zola took up the case for Dreyfus*, a Jewish officer
in the French Army convicted of treason in 1894. The case caused an uproar throughout France and Zola correctly believed that Dreyfus was innocent. He wrote an article for the newspaper "L'Aurore" in the form of an open letter which began, "J'Accuse" (“I accuse”), in which attacked the general staff of the Army, the War Office and various senior officers, saying they had deliberately concealed facts and knowingly allowed a false conviction.
He was prosecuted and found guilty of libel. In July, 1899, when it became almost certain his appeal would be denied, Zola fled to England. In June, 1900, he returned to France after it was announced the case would be reopened. Zola's courageous stand helped combat anti-Semitism in France.
Zola died in 1902, asphyxiated by coal gas resulting from a blocked chimney flue. Crowds lined the streets to watch his funeral procession. In 1980, his remains were
interred in the Paris Pantheon of Paris
ASSESSMENT: Zola is recognized as a great novelist whose books have had a
marked influence on the modern novel. He is acknowledged as a warrior against injustice and a champion, through his novels, articles and actions, of the poor and oppressed.
EXTRA CONNECTIONS: Defended actress Sarah Bernhardt’s* work.
Was in Hugo’s* birthday parade.
Introduced to the US public by editor Howells*
He met Henry James* and Diaghilev*
Influenced novelist Mann* and painter Van Gogh*
Was a fan of writer Strindberg*
He was an admirer of Monet* andManet*
ONEINER; Emile Zola, great French writer
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Walker, Philip, Zola, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1985