|
Émile Zola (2 April 1840 –
29 September 1902) was an
influential French novelist,
the most important example of
the literary school of
naturalism, and a major figure
in the political liberalization
of France.
More than half of Zola's novels
were part of a set of 20
collectively known as Les
Rougon-Macquart. Set in
France's Second Empire, the
series traces the 'hereditary'
influence of violence,
alcoholism, and prostitution in
two branches of a single
family: the respectable (that
is, legitimate) Rougons and the
disreputable (illegitimate)
Macquarts, for five
generations.
As he described his plans for
the series, "I want to portray,
at the outset of a century of
liberty and truth, a family
that cannot restrain itself in
its rush to possess all the
good things that progress is
making available and is
derailed by its own momentum,
the fatal convulsions that
accompany the birth of a new
world."
Zola and the painter Paul
Cézanne were friends from
childhood and in youth, but
broke in later life over Zola's
fictionalized depiction of
Cézanne and the Bohemian life
of painters in his novel
L'Œuvre (The Masterpiece,
1886).
He risked his career and even
his life on 13 January 1898,
when his "J'accuse" , was
published on the front page of
the Paris daily, L'Aurore. The
newspaper was run by Ernest
Vaughan and Georges Clemenceau,
who decided that the
controversial story would be in
the form of an open letter to
the President, Félix Faure.
"J'accuse" accused the
government of antisemitism and
of wrongfully placing the
Jewish army captain Alfred
Dreyfus in jail. The case,
known as the Dreyfus affair,
had divided France deeply
between the reactionary army
and church, and the more
liberal commercial society. The
ramifications continued for
many years; on the 100th
anniversary of Zola's article,
France's Roman Catholic daily
paper, La Croix, apologized for
its antisemitic editorials
during the Dreyfus Affair. Zola
was a leading French thinker
and his letter formed a major
turning-point in the
affair.
Zola was brought to trial for
criminal libel on 9 June 1899,
and was convicted on 23
February, sentenced, and
removed from the Legion of
Honor. He declared that
Dreyfus' conviction and removal
to a prisoners island came
after a false accusation of
espionage and was a miscarriage
of justice. Rather than go to
jail, he fled to England. But
soon he was allowed to return
in time to see the government
fall.
The government offered Dreyfus
a pardon (rather than
exoneration), which he could
accept and go free and so
effectively admit that he was
guilty, or face a re-trial in
which he was sure to be
convicted again. Although he
was clearly not guilty, he
chose to accept the pardon.
Zola said, "The truth is on the
march, and nothing shall stop
it." In 1906, Dreyfus was
completely exonerated by the
Supreme Court.
Zola died in Paris on 29
September 1902 of carbon
monoxide poisoning caused by a
stopped chimney. He was 62
years old. His enemies were
blamed, but nothing was proven.
(Decades later, a Parisian
roofer claimed on his deathbed
to have closed the chimney for
political reasons.) Zola was
initially buried in the
Cimetière de Montmartre in
Paris, but on 4 June 1908,
almost six years after his
death, his remains were moved
to the Panthéon.
The biographical film The Life
of Emile Zola won the Academy
Award for Best Picture in 1937.
The film focuses mainly on
Zola's involvement in the
Dreyfus Affair.
In January 1998, President
Jacques Chirac held a memorial
to honor the centenary of
J'Accuse.
Source : Some
of the information on this page
came from a Wikipedia
article and is
licensed under the GNU
Documentation License.
©2008
www.geneticmatrix.com.
|
General
Details
Emile
Zola - Generator
- Biography