Zola, Emile

Emile (1840-1902), a noted French novelist. He was a native of Paris. He attended a lyceum or college, but was refused the honor of graduation on the score of illiteracy. He had experience as a clerk, as a salesman in a bookstore, and as a writer for the papers. He attained some standing in the world of letters. He then set himself to work to produce a series of novels dealing with the weakest and vilest phases of Parisian life. Murder, adultery, theft, poisoning, drunkenness, idleness, department stores, mining, mining railways, stock-broking, and misgovernment are some of the topics treated by a busy and rapid pen. The general impression of the literary world is not favorable to Zola. During his later years Zola did much to commend himself by persistent defense of a Captain Dreyfus who had been accused unjustly of treasonable correspondence with the German government. See Dreyfus