Le Ventre de Paris

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Dodo Press, 2008 - Fiction - 296 pages
Émile Zola (1840-1902), né à Paris, est un écrivain, journaliste et homme public français, considéré comme le chef de file du naturalisme. C'est l'un des romanciers français les plus universellement populaires, l'un des plus publiés et traduits au monde, le plus adapté au cinéma et à la télévision. Sa vie et son oeuvre ont été étudiés dans le détail par la science historique. Sur le plan littéraire, il est principalement connu pour Les Rougon-Macquart, monumentale fresque romanesque en vingt volumes dépeignant la société française du second empire. Les dernières années de sa vie sont marquées par son engagement dans son époque, lors de l'affaire Dreyfus, dans laquelle il joue un r'le décisif par la publication du plus célèbre article de la presse française: J'Accuse...! (1898).

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About the author (2008)

Zola was the spokesperson for the naturalist novel in France and the leader of a school that championed the infusion of literature with new scientific theories of human development drawn from Charles Darwin (see Vol. 5) and various social philosophers. The theoretical claims for such an approach, which are considered simplistic today, were outlined by Zola in his Le Roman Experimental (The Experimental Novel, 1880). He was the author of the series of 20 novels called The Rougon-Macquart, in which he attempted to trace scientifically the effects of heredity through five generations of the Rougon and Macquart families. Three of the outstanding volumes are L'Assommoir (1877), a study of alcoholism and the working class; Nana (1880), a story of a prostitute who is a femme fatale; and Germinal (1885), a study of a strike at a coal mine. All gave scope to Zola's gift for portraying crowds in turmoil. Today Zola's novels have been appreciated by critics for their epic scope and their visionary and mythical qualities. He continues to be immensely popular with French readers. His newspaper article "J'Accuse," written in defense of Alfred Dreyfus, launched Zola into the public limelight and made him the political conscience of his country.

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