Zola

Zola, Emile (b. 1840), was born at Paris. In 1871 appeared the first volume of the series of novels known as Les Rougon-Macquart, comprising L'Assommoir, Nana, Germinal, La Terre, La Bete Humaine, La Debacle, and Dr. Pascal. Lourdes, Rome, and Paris (1898) formed another set, while Fecondite (1898) was the final work of the whole series. In 1898 Zola was tried and sentenced for defamation of the Army (in connection with the Dreyfus scandal), but the verdict was quashed and a new trial ordered. At the second trial (1898), judgment was allowed to go by default, and Zola left Paris before judgment was notified to him, and lived for some time in England.