1840-1902. French novelist and social
reformer. With La Fortune des Rougon/The
Fortune of the Rougons 1867 he began a series
of some 20 naturalistic novels, portraying
the fortunes of a French family under the
Second Empire. They include Le Ventre de
Paris/The Underbelly of Paris 1873, Nana
1880, and La Debacle/The Debacle 1892. In
1898 he published J'accuse/I Accuse, a
pamphlet indicting the persecutors of
Dreyfus, for which he was prosecuted for
libel but later pardoned. Born in Paris, Zola
was a journalist and clerk until his Contes a
Ninon/Stories for Ninon 1864 enabled him to
devote himself to literature. Some of the
titles in La Fortune des Rougon/The Fortune
of the Rougons series are La Faute de l'Abbe
Mouret/The Simple Priest 1875,
L'Assommoir/Drunkard 1878, Germinal 1885 and
La Terre/Earth 1888. Among later novels are
the trilogy Trois Villes/Three Cities
1894-98, and Fecondite/Fecundity 1899.