Emil Zola famous works. Not a day without a line

Emile Zola. Biography and review of creativity

1840-1902

Emile Zola is a writer who most fully reflected the life of French society of the second half of XIX V. Zola continued the traditions of "great French literature" - Stendhal, Balzac, Flaubert.

French critical realism in this era, he did not escape the influence of the reactionary bourgeois ideology, losing many of his achievements. That is why Engels wrote that he considers Balzac "... a much greater master of realism than all the Zolas of the past, present and future ...". But at the same time, the development of realism did not stop, it acquired new qualities, new themes.

Zola was the son of his era. And this was reflected in the contradictions of his worldview and creativity. He sought to "enrich" realism with the techniques of naturalism, which, in his opinion, met the requirements of modernity. This was a delusion of Zola, who did not understand the inferiority of the foundations of naturalism.

Zola was one of the theorists of naturalism, but Zola's aesthetics cannot be reduced to the doctrine of naturalism. She is contradictory. Realistic and naturalistic tendencies struggle in it. In the work of Zola, although it pays tribute to naturalism, the realistic tradition triumphs. This allowed M. Gorky to say that "one can study an entire era based on the novels of Emile Zola."

Around the name of Zola there are constant disputes that began during his lifetime. The reaction will never forgive the great writer for his denunciatory works, tireless and passionate struggle in the name of justice, democracy, humanism. Progressive criticism seeks to fully reveal and explain the contradictions of Zola, pointing to the main direction of the writer's creative activity.

Zola's biography

Emile Zola was born on April 2, 1840 in Paris, but he spent his childhood in the south of France, in the Provencal town of Aix. His father, an Italian, was a talented engineer, builder railway and channel, inventor. He died in 1847, leaving his family completely unprovided.

In 1858 E. Zola moved to Paris. An attempt to complete his education by passing the bachelor's degree examination was unsuccessful. The difficulties of a beggarly life began, without constant work, in a huge, indifferent city. But Zola stubbornly continued to write poetry, poems, although, according to Maupassant, they were "sluggish and impersonal."

With difficulty, Zola managed in 1862 to get a permanent job in a book publishing house as a packer in a warehouse. During these years, Zola began to write chronicles and literary criticism for newspapers. Journalism turned out to be a very useful school, developing in him an attention to reality. He soon left the publishing house, devoting himself entirely to literary work.

In 1864, Zola published a collection of short stories, Tales of Ninon. Early novels Zola, such as The Confession of Claude (1865), The Testament of the Dead (1866), The Mysteries of Marseilles (1867), are not distinguished by their originality. But gradually Zola is freed from the epigone adherence to romanticism, characteristic of his early works. The passion for the poetry of the romantics is replaced by a growing interest in the work of the realists Balzac, Flaubert, in the naturalistic theories of the critic and literary historian Hippolyte Taine.

In Thérèse Raquin (1867) and Madeleine Férat (1868), Zola creates examples of the naturalistic novel. In the first of them, the writer set the task of “clinically examining” the feeling of remorse that Teresa possesses, who, together with her lover, killed her husband. Despite some realistic moments that attract the reader, the novel is naturalistic. Zola was constantly developing the theory of naturalism. He wrote many literary-critical articles, most fully expounding the principles of naturalism in the Experimental Novel (1880), Natural Novelists, Naturalism in the Theater (1881).

Zola's creative heritage is very diverse. It consists of several collections of short stories, collections of literary criticism and journalistic articles, several dramatic works (the play The Heirs of Rabourdain, 1874 is especially famous), but novels occupy the first place in it in terms of value and volume.

Zola has an idea for a grandiose epic, like Balzac's The Human Comedy. He decides to create "a natural and social history of one family during the period of the Second Empire", striving at the same time to embody in it the provisions of naturalism. For about 25 years he has been working on the epic Rougon-Macquart, which reflects the history of French society from 1851 to 1871.

Behind long years work on "Rougon-Macquarts" Zola's views on life change significantly. The social contradictions of the reality of the Third Republic force Zola, the theorist of naturalism, to abandon objectivism in his best works, actively intervene in life, focus not on the biological, “natural”, but on the social history of society. Zola showed himself to be a remarkable realist artist, creating with his novels, according to Gorky, “an excellent history of the Second Empire. He told it in the way that only an artist can tell a story .. He knew perfectly well everything that needed to be known: financial scams, the clergy, artists, in general, he knew everything, the whole predatory epic and the whole collapse of the bourgeoisie, which first won in the 19th century and then on laurels of decaying victory.

The events of the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune had a huge impact on the writer. The events of the Franco-Prussian war are directly depicted by the writer in the novel Defeat (1892), as well as in the famous short story The Siege of the Mill, which, together with Maupassant's Dumpling, was included in the collection Medan Evenings (1880). In this short story, with great love, he showed ordinary people: the miller uncle Merlier, his daughter Francoise, the young man Dominique - modest and selfless patriots of France.

But bourgeois narrow-mindedness prevented the writer from fully understanding his people, who fought for freedom. He did not accept the Paris Commune, although the bloody terror of the Versailles provoked a sharp condemnation of Zola.

Zola's participation in the Dreyfus affair, his famous letter to the President of the Republic F. Faure "I accuse" (1898) is evidence of Zola's courage and passionate hatred for the enemies of truth and justice, militarists and clerics. The progressive public of the whole world warmly supported Zola, but the reaction subjected him to persecution. To escape imprisonment, Zola was forced to leave France for a year.

In the 90s and 900s, after finishing work on Rougon-Macquarts, Zola created two more series of novels: the anti-clerical trilogy Three Cities (1894-1898) and the Four Gospels cycle (1899-1902), which reflected the author's passion for socialist ideas. Due to reformist delusions, Zola did not see the right path for the development of society, he could not come to scientific socialism, the ideas of which spread at the end of the 19th century. in France. And yet, in his last works, Zola I raised a number of the most acute social issues of our time, concluding: “The bourgeoisie betrays its revolutionary past ... It unites with reaction, clericalism, militarism. I must put forward the basic, decisive idea that the bourgeoisie has finished its role, that it has gone over to reaction in order to preserve its power and its wealth, and that all hope lies in the energy of the people. Salvation is only in the people.

Zola's creative and social activities were suddenly interrupted: he died in 1902 from intoxication. In 1908, the ashes of the writer were transferred to the Pantheon. The French people honor the memory of the great writer. His best novels - "Germinal", "The Trap" - are still the most popular books in public libraries.

Aesthetic views of Zola

Formation of aesthetic views

Zola begins in the 60s. In 1864, he declared that of the three "screens" of art: classical, romantic, realistic - he prefers the last one. In the early collection of articles “My Hatred”, Zola defended the realistic art of Stendhal, Balzac, Courbet and others. In his subsequent speeches, Zola talks about the advantages and disadvantages, from his point of view, artistic method Stendhal and Balzac. He sees their strength in their closeness to reality, in its truthful reflection, in "a powerful ability to observe and analyze, to depict their era, and not fictional fairy tales." However, the invariable in the aesthetics of Zola, the craving for realism is often limited to a one-sided perception of the artistic method of the great realists, the desire to find support from them for naturalistic theory. Zola sometimes denies in them the most strengths. Admiring Balzac, especially his "accurate analysis", he considers "unbridled imagination" as the weakness of this great artist. Deep generalizations, "exceptional" characters, which Balzac serves as a realistic typification, seem to Zola to be an excessive "exaggeration", a play of fiction. "He also condemns the constant presence author's assessment in the novels of Balzac, preferring the "dispassionate" manner of Flaubert, who, as Zola seems, "gives only one statement of facts."

Paying tribute to the great realists, he finds much of their method outdated.

Zola seems impossible development modern realism without using advances in science. The appeal to science could play a positive role if it did not rely on the pseudo-scientific idealistic philosophy of positivism.

Zola was also negatively influenced by the theories of vulgar materialism, which distorted the achievements natural sciences who transferred the laws of nature to human society.

In an effort to link literature with the natural sciences, Zola was interested in the works of natural scientists and physicians: Claude Bernard (“Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine”), Letourneau (“Physiology of Passions”), the theories of heredity Lucas, Lombroso, etc.

In his theory of the "experimental novel", Zola argued that the writer must be a scientist. The task of the novelist is to create something like a scientific psychology that complements scientific physiology. But as a result of this scientific research“The social nature of the human psyche was not taken into account, physiology was brought to the fore, the image of a “man-beast” appeared, and the human in a person was belittled.

According to the theory of naturalism, the writer, creating a novel, conducts a kind of scientific experiment. Observing, documenting everything with strictly verified facts, he studies the influence of the environment on the hero. But the concept of the environment is deprived here social value, is determined only by biological, partly by everyday conditions. With such a narrow concept of the environment, the theory of heredity, beloved by naturalists, is also connected, which asserts the innateness of vices.

Zola's own artistic practice, and even in aesthetic performances, often went beyond naturalism and determinism, understanding the environment as social factor. Even in the "Experimental Novel" he wrote that "the main subject of our study is the constant impact of society on man and man on society." This was reflected in the contradictory views of Zola, beneficial effect on him the aesthetics of the great realists with their constant attention to the social conditions that shape the character of the hero. In most of Zola's novels, the understanding of the environment is undoubtedly social.

Rougon Macquart

The epic Rougon-Macquart (1871-1893) - the most outstanding creation of Zola - consists of 20 novels. The idea of ​​this grandiose epic arose in 1868. The impetus for the work was the fascination with the fashionable theory of heredity. The writer decided to consider four generations of one family. But from the very beginning of his work, he did not limit himself to biological problems only. The author set two tasks: 1) "to study the issues of blood and environment on the example of one family", 2) "depict the entire Second Empire, from the coup d'état to the present day." Trying to fulfill the first, he made family tree of the Rougon-Macquart family, giving each family member a detailed medical description in terms of hereditary traits.

Having decided to write a history of several generations of Rougon-Macquarts, Zola sought to show the situation of various classes and social groups French society - the people, the bourgeoisie, the aristocracy, the clergy. It is no coincidence that the ramifications of the Rougon-Macquart family penetrate all social strata of France. But Zola is not satisfied with this. Oi populates his novels with a huge number of characters (the total number of characters in the series is about 1200), sometimes without family ties with the Rougon-Macquarts. And this is done by the artist for a more complete coverage of reality.

“It was necessary to study life perfectly in order to create an excellent history of the Second Empire, in order to lead the reader into all the nooks and crannies of the modern world ...” 1 wrote the pre-October Pravda about Zola.

For his epic, the novelist chose one of the most reactionary periods in the history of France. This is the "epoch of shame and madness" - the 1950s and 1960s, when the reactionary bourgeoisie and the government of Napoleon III, which served its interests, fought mercilessly against every manifestation of free thought, revolutionary traditions, and freedom of the press. Fearing the people, the bourgeoisie created a "strong government" that gave it unlimited opportunities to plunder the country.

The second empire collapsed. Its history ended with a tragic war and the Paris Commune. As a result of these events, much has changed in the views of Zola. The social line in Rougon-Macquarts was gradually strengthened at the expense of the biological line.

Rougon-Macquart is a complex and multifaceted work. It is possible to single out the leading themes in it, outline the main lines, although they will not cover the entire content of the epic. This is the depiction of the bourgeoisie in the novels The Career of the Rougons, The Booty, The Womb of Paris, The Scum, Money, and others. The life of the people is depicted in the novels The Trap, Germinal, and The Earth. The anti-clerical theme is found in the novels The Conquest of Plassant, ♦ The Misdemeanor of Abbé Mouret, and others. The theme of art and creativity is the novel Creativity.

There are in the series and works in which the main focus. devoted to the problem of heredity, - "Man-beast", "Doctor Pascal".

Novels about the bourgeoisie. "The Rougon Career"

In the first novel, The Career of the Rougons (1871), the genealogical lines of the Rougon-Macquart family are outlined. The ancestor of the family is the nervously ill Adelaide Fook, whose life is deeply tragic. Adelaide's children and grandchildren from her first marriage to the peasant Rougon and from her second marriage to the vagabond and drunkard Macquart act in the novel. The author traces

in the future, the influence of heredity, neurosis and alcoholism of parents on offspring, although this does not become the main thing. The Rougon branch is associated with the bourgeoisie. Makkarov is primarily with the people.

In the preface to the novel, Zola states: "The family that I am about to study is characterized by unbridled desires, the powerful desire of our age, eager for pleasure." The artist reveals these typically bourgeois, predatory traits of the Rougon family in the behavior of the characters in the events of 1851 that decide the fate of France. provincial town Plassans, in the south of France. In essence, in the image of Zola, this town represents the whole of France.

The novel was mostly written under the empire, when Zola's hatred of Bonapartism was combined with an ardent faith in the Republic.

In a stagnant, provincial town, all affairs are handled by the bourgeoisie, nobles, and clergy. Petty disagreements between them disappear at the slightest threat from the people. To unite in order to "finish off the Republic" - such is the slogan of all who tremble for "their money". In the world of wealthy Plassanian inhabitants, the family of the former shopkeeper Rougon and his wife, the cunning, ambitious Felicite, stand out with a special hatred for the Republic and monstrous greed.

The sons of Rougon - Eugene and Aristide, not satisfied with the scale of Plassant, go to Paris. The crimes of these predators in Paris are as natural in the conditions of the empire as the prosperity of their parents in the provinces. Here, on a more modest scale, but with no less cruelty, the older Rougons act. Thanks to connections with their son Eugene, who rotates in the political elite, they learn about the impending Bonapartist coup and seize power in the city. They become "benefactors", "saviors" of the city from the "republican infection". They are showered with favors by the victorious empire, they seized upon the “state pie”.

Zola depicts the "menagerie", "yellow salon", Rougonov, uniting people who have nothing sacred but money. The cruelty of Pierre Rougon towards his old, sick and robbed mother is characteristic. It is no coincidence that "having nothing to do with the family" Dr. Pascal, the third son of the Rougons, observing the "yellow salon", likens its visitors to insects and animals: the Marquis de Carnavan reminds him of a large green grasshopper, Vuillet - a dull, slippery toad, Roudier - a fat ram .

The novel uniquely combines angry satire with high pathos, fanned by the breath of the revolution. It combines the satirical depiction of the Bonapartist clique with the romance of a popular uprising, dull gray colors with purple, the color of blood and banners.

The hot sympathy of the artist is on the side of the Republicans. He especially vividly describes the movement of the Republicans to Plassan, where the workers joined them. This procession of the people seems grandiose and majestic. The nobility and disinterestedness of the Republicans are visible in "faces transformed by spiritual uplift", "in heroic strength"," the simple-hearted gullibility of giants. The revolutionary impulse of the people is expressed by the writer hyperbolically, as something embracing nature itself, gigantic, sublime, romantic. Here, for the first time, the artist's skill in depicting the insurgent people is manifested.

Zola binds in this novel the fate of her goodies- the grandson of Adelaide Silver and his lover, the young Mietta - with the Republicans. Silver's purity, his disinterestedness, kindness distinguish this young man from the Rougon-Macquart family. He is the only one in the whole family who takes care of the sick old woman, his grandmother. Silver becomes a Republican, although this poor man, like many others, discovered during the years of the Republic born in 1848 that "not all is for the best in this best of republics."

The death of Silver and Mietta, as it were, personifies the death of the Republic. The family is involved in their murder: Aristide sees how Silver is being led to the execution, and does not interfere with this. Distraught with grief at the sight of her grandson's death, Adelaide curses her children, calling them a pack of wolves that devoured her only child.

Mining

Having shown in the "Career of the Rougons" in what ways the bourgeoisie comes to power, Zola in next novel- "Production" (1871) - painted a picture of a society "saved" from the revolution, which "blissed, rested, slept off under the protection of firm power." Among the triumphant bourgeoisie, the son of the Rougons is Aristide Saccard. He stands out for his ability to deftly swim in the muddy waves of speculation that swept French society, especially during the Crimean War. His dying wife Saqqara is talking to her husband about his plans for a new marriage for 100,000.

Having robbed his second wife (for Saqqara she was a “bet, working capital”), he seeks to cash in on his son, marrying him profitably. The Saqqara family is the center of vice and depravity.

The typicality of this image, with which Zola continues the line of Balzac's hoarding heroes, is emphasized by the whole feverish atmosphere of profit, robbery that swept "the Parisians of the era of decline *.

The artist uses vivid means to expose the triumphant, tormenting France of the big bourgeoisie. The new house of Aristide Saccard, representing a mixture of all styles, resembles the "important and stupid face of a wealthy upstart." The description of the magnificent table setting, the living room, where “everything flowed with gold”, denounces not only bad taste, but also looting, which flourishes in defeated France.

The seal of decline and disintegration has already marked the triumphant caste of the bourgeoisie. It is no coincidence that the writer compares Rene, the wife of Aristides, with Phaedra Euripides, although he notes ironically that her criminal passion for her stepson is a parody of the tragedy of the ancient heroine.

The vicious world of decline and decay, depicted by the artist, crowns the image of Napoleon III - lifeless, with his deathly pale face and leaden eyelids covering dull eyes. The writer repeatedly mentions these "dull eyes, yellow-gray eyes with a clouded pupil", creating the image of a cruel and stupid predator.

Showing the horrific depravity of the ruling classes, Zola is sometimes carried away by naturalistic details. And yet the reader is convinced that already in the first novels of Zola there is no place for the dispassionate attitude towards bourgeois reality, for which he advocated in naturalistic aesthetics. They are full of anger and sarcasm, they are a kind of political pamphlet of great power.

Belly of Paris

The novel The Belly of Paris (1873) was created by Zola during the years of the Third Republic, which he initially welcomed. Staying still for a long time As a supporter of bourgeois republicanism, the writer, with his characteristic observation, was forced already in the first years to state that the bourgeois republic had changed almost nothing in the country.

The focus of the writer in this novel is the petty bourgeoisie, its behavior in the era of the empire, its attitude towards the republic. The Parisian market depicted in the novel is the personification of "fat-bellied Paris", which "grew fat and secretly supported the empire." These are the "fat men" who devour the "skinny ones". The philosophy of these “decent”, “peaceful” people is most fully expressed by the shopkeeper Lisa Quenu, whose convictions are determined by profit. The empire provides an opportunity to profit, trade, and she is for the empire.

This calm, beautiful, restrained woman is capable of any abomination, any betrayal and secret crime for the sake of profit.

A convict appears in Lisa's family, her husband's brother Florent. In the December days of 1851, when the people of Paris fought for the Republic at the barricades, Florent happened to be on the street. This was enough to get to hard labor, about the horrors of which he tells a fairy tale to the little girl Polina. Florent is a dreamer. He does not even realize that the Republican conspiracy, the organization of which he is absorbed, is known to the police agents from the very beginning.

If Zola condemns Florent for groundlessness, then he denounces the rest of the members of the republican group as ambitious, demagogues, traitors, as typical bourgeois republicans (teacher Charvet, shopkeeper Gavard, etc.).

In the conflict between the "fat" shopkeepers and the "skinny" Florent, "decent" people win, who one after another rush to report him to the police prefecture. “What scoundrels, however, are all these decent people!” - with these words of the artist Claude Lantier, the author concludes his novel.

To show the "satiation" of the prosperous bourgeois, Zola paints material abundance, a picture of the Parisian market. The generosity of its colors reminds Flemish still lifes. He devotes whole pages to describing fish and meat rows, mountains of vegetables and fruits, conveying all shades, all colors, all smells.

His Excellency Eugene Rougon

In the novel "His Excellency Eugene Rougon" (1876), Zola again returns, as in "Production", to show the ruling circles of the empire. For several years of the existence of the Third Republic, Zola saw politicians, adventurers and intriguers, ready to change their political orientation at any moment. This contributed to the creation of a bright, satirical. the image of the political businessman Eugene Rougon. "

In order to get to power and keep it, all means are good for Rougon - hypocrisy, intrigues, gossip, bribery, etc. The hardened politician de Marci, deputies, and ministers are similar to him. The only difference between Rougon is that, like a big pointing dog on a hunt, he manages to grab the largest piece of prey. In terms of scale, Rougon can only be compared with the leader of this Bonapartist pack - the emperor himself.

Rougon is a cunning politician, leading difficult game. He is ready to outdo the reaction of the emperor himself, demanding the destruction of the parliament, already deprived of its rights. Zola very subtly notes Rougon's sycophancy towards superiors and contempt for inferiors, hypocrisy, narcissism, the cult of one's own personality.

When Rougon speaks of the people, he is full of hatred and malice. His ideal is tyranny: "to control people with a whip, like some kind of herd", "to rule, holding a whip in his hand." He is sure that "the crowd loves a stick", that "outside the principle of strong power for France there is no salvation."

Under pressure from the people, the emperor was forced to carry out minor liberal reforms. The turn that Rougon, this supporter of the kulak and strong power, makes, is amazing even for worldly-wise bourgeois politicians. From now on, in order to maintain power, Rougon acts as a defender of the liberal policy of the emperor.

The novel about Eugene Rougon is a topical, sharp political pamphlet directed against the supporters of "strong power".

Nana, Scale

Since the end of the 70s, the position of the Third Republic has been strengthened, reactionary attempts to return the monarchy ended in failure. The elections of 1877 were won by the bourgeois republicans. But the position of the people in the bourgeois Third Republic remained just as difficult as in the years of the empire.

The influence of bourgeois reality and reactionary ideology on literature was reflected in these years in a decrease in criticism, in the strengthening of naturalistic tendencies.

The predominance of features of naturalism, some adaptation to the tastes of the bourgeois reader led to the fact that in the novel "Nana" (1880) in the first place, according to Saltykov-Shchedrin, was the "female torso". The writer sought to show the immorality of the top of France / the collapse of the ruling classes, making the image of the courtesan Nana a symbol of all this. But sometimes Zola's critical position was not clearly expressed.

Nakipi (1882) shows the world of the middle bourgeoisie, officials. These are the inhabitants of one house, outwardly having a "stately appearance, full of bourgeois dignity." In fact, behind this hypocritical bourgeois respectability lies the most rabid depravity, venality, and cruelty.

The impudent treatment of the rich doorkeeper of the house with the sick person has a symbolic meaning. old woman, which washes stairs for a penny, does the dirtiest work. Its exploitation personifies the attitude of the bourgeoisie towards the people.

Zola was distinguished by the ability to feel and capture the "zeitgeist", to guess new trends in the development of society. He is ahead of others French writers reflected the beginning of the era of imperialism. Zola manages to realistically show the growth of monopolies and the process of ruin of small proprietors in the novel Ladies' Happiness (1883). Big capital, represented here by the department store "Ladies' happiness", mercilessly crushes the owners of small stores. Tragic is the fate of the cloth maker Uncle Bodiu and his family, the old man Bourret and other small merchants. The artist conveys the inevitability of their death by constantly contrasting the huge, bright, attracting crowds of buyers of the Lady's Happiness store with the dark "burrow" of Uncle Bodyu. The reasons for the success of Octave Mouret, the owner of "Ladies' happiness", are that he operates with huge capital, introduces new methods of trade, makes extensive use of advertising, and ruthlessly exploits the store's employees. Octave Mouret is merciless to his subordinates, he is not touched by the tragedies of the ruined, ruined by him people. He lives and acts in the name of profit.

The traits of a predator, an entrepreneur of a new era, are clearly outlined by Zola in the image of Octave Mouret. But the attitude of the writer to the owner of "Ladies' Happiness" is ambivalent. Observing the intensive development of capitalism, Zola believed that it contributes to the progress of society, to the improvement of general well-being. This was the influence of bourgeois positivism. Therefore, the writer does not unconditionally condemn Octave Mouret, believing that "he is simply fulfilling the task facing his age." All the activities of Octave Mouret are given in the novel through the perception of Denise Bodiu, who is in love with him, idealizing the hero. Octave Mouret appears as a "poet" of his craft, bringing fantasy into commerce, a man of exceptional energy. In the novel "Scum" Octave Mouret is a depraved young man, but here the author ennobles his hero, endowing him with the ability to truly love the poor girl Denise. It is unexpected that the owner of "Lady's happiness" meets Denise's desire to improve the position of employees, her dream of "a huge ideal store - a phalanster of trade, where everyone receives his share of the profits according to his merits and where he is provided with a comfortable future by agreement."

The belief in the civilizing mission of capitalist entrepreneurship, borrowed from the positivist O. Comte and other bourgeois sociologists, is also characteristic of Zola's other novel about monopolies, Money. The writer artificially separates money from industrial and social relations, fetishizes it as special, with nothing to do with it. bound force as a "progress factor".

Idealizing money, the writer elevates the protagonist of the novel, Aristide Saccard, although he shows the crime of the stock exchange, with which all his activities are connected. It's been twenty years since this financial swindler was featured in The Prey. But if then Zola treated his hero only negatively, now the image of Saccard is dual.

Saccard embarks on a scam by creating the "World Bank" without his own capital. He is fascinated by projects for the development of the Middle East, the construction of communication lines, mines, etc. Through various tricks of advertising, thousands of gullible people are caught, who become small shareholders of the bank. Stock exchange fraud is truthfully shown in the novel. In competition with the solid bank of the millionaire Gundermann, the inflated bank of Saqqara collapses. It is characteristic that large shareholders deftly save their capital, the entire burden of ruin falls on the shoulders of the poor. The tragedy of many disadvantaged families is staggering. The objective conclusion is that money associated with capitalist activity leads to crime and misfortune.

But it seems to Zola that the commonwealth of science and money drives progress, even if it is carried out through blood and suffering. In this regard, the image of Aristide Saqqara is idealized. He is energetic, proactive, takes care of the poor children of the orphanage. This is a person who allegedly takes a great interest in his work for the sake of it. Having failed with the "World Bank", he continues his activities in Holland, draining the seashore.

In the novel Germinal, created in the mid-80s, Zola exposed monopoly capital, the joint-stock company that owns the mines. There are no longer any illusions about the creative role of capitalism.

Novels about the people of the "Trap"

The theme of the people had its own tradition in French literature before Zola. Suffice it to recall the works of O. Balzac, J. Sand, V. Hugo. But the significance of this topic is especially; significantly increased in the 1970s and 1980s due to the growth of the revolutionary activity of the masses. Zola's novel The Trap (1877) is dedicated to the life of the people, the life of Parisian artisans. In the plan of the novel, the author partly proceeded from naturalistic principles, trying to show "how the hereditary vice of alcoholism destroys Gervaise Macquart and her husband, the roofer Coupeau. However, the plan already reflects the writer's desire to avoid lies in the image of the people, to tell the truth," to explain the morals of the people, the vices , fall, moral and physical ugliness of the environment, the conditions created for the workers in our society. " Zola wanted to recreate reality with absolute accuracy, so that the picture contained "morality in itself."

The appearance of the novel caused a storm in bourgeois criticism. He was considered immoral, rude, dirty.

Zola turned to the image of unbearable living conditions that give rise to vices. The heroine of the novel is Gervaise Macquart. hardworking woman, loving mother. She dreams of working quietly, having a modest income, raising children, "dying in her bed." Gervaise makes incredible efforts to achieve well-being for her family. But all in vain. Misfortune - Coupeau's fall from the roof - destroys all of Gervaise's dreams. Having been injured, Coupo no longer works as before, he falls into a trap - Uncle Colomb's tavern, turns into an alcoholic. Poverty gradually destroys the family; depressed by the failures, Gervaise starts drinking with Coupeau. Both of them die. What is the reason for the death of these honest workers? In the heredity of vice, in an accident, or in the conditions of their life? Undoubtedly, the novel denounces the social injustice of bourgeois society, the tragic deprivation of the people; it is his impoverishment that leads to the corruption and death of the worker.

The hardest work does not provide people in bourgeois society with confidence in the future. Not only alcoholics are begging. Uncle Bru, the house painter, who lost his sons in the Crimea and honestly worked for fifty years, dies a beggar under the stairs.

And yet the artist did not fully understand the causes of the plight of the people.

Zola limited his conclusions to philanthropic purposes. He wrote: "Close the taverns, open the schools... Alcoholism undermines the people... Improve the health of the workers' quarters and increase wages."

A. Barbusse rightly wrote: “The huge gap in this exciting work: the playwright does not indicate true reasons evil, and this prevents him from seeing the only means of its destruction, it follows from this that the book leaves the impression of hopelessness, hopelessness, there is no indignation against the vile order.

The desire to arouse compassion for the people among the ruling classes forced the artist to exacerbate the shadow sides. He endows the workers with all sorts of vices, which led to the accusation of the writer of discrediting the working class. In fact, Zola believed in the purity of the people. Evidence of this are the images of Gervaise, the blacksmith Gouget, Uncle Bru and others.

Paul Lafargue also noted that Zola's mistake is that he portrays the people as passive, not fighting, he is only interested in their way of life.

Earth

The picture of French society would be incomplete without showing the life of the peasantry. In the novel "Earth" (1887) a real picture of peasant life is recreated. The stubborn, inhuman labor of the peasants does not relieve them of want in bourgeois society. To stay on the surface, the peasant stubbornly clings to a piece of land.

Ownership psychology divides the peasants, forces them to stick to everything habitual, inert, determines the savagery of their morals. The desire to keep the land at all costs pushes the peasant Buteau and his wife Lisa to commit crimes: they kill old Fouan, they kill Lisa's sister Francoise.

Realistically reflecting the conditions for the existence of the French countryside, Zola, however, thickened dark colors in the depiction of the peasants. The novel suffers from excessive physiology.

The book was condemned by critics from various positions. The attacks of bourgeois criticism are explained primarily by the fact that Zola touched on a forbidden topic - the life of the people. Progressive criticism, on the contrary, appreciated the courage of the writer, but reacted sharply to the naturalism of the work. However positive images novels were found precisely among the people.

Despite the inhuman conditions, humanity is preserved in the peasants Jean, Francoise, old Foine. Subsequently, in the novel "The Rout", the peasant Jean, first depicted in "Earth", becomes the embodiment of healthy strength the whole nation, the spokesman for the positive ideals of Zola.

Anti-clerical novels

All his life, Zola struggled with the reaction in all its manifestations. Therefore, an important place in the Rougon-Macquart series is occupied by the exposure of the clergy, the Catholic religion.

In the novel The Conquest of Plassant (1874), in the image of the Jesuit Abbé Fauges, Zola presented a cunning politician, an energetic adventurer who serves the empire of Napoleon III. Appearing in Plassan as a poor priest unknown to anyone with a dark past, Abbé Fauja soon becomes omnipotent. Abbé Fauja deftly removes all the obstacles that prevent him from promoting the deputy needed by the government of Napoleon III. He quickly finds a common language with representatives of various political parties in the city. Even among the bourgeois Plassants, the Abbé Fauges stands out for his grip.

Appeared in 1875, the novel "The Misdemeanor of the Abbé Mouret" is based on the opposition of the ascetic, religious outlook and philosophy of joyful perception of life. The embodiment of church dogmas hated by the writer, asceticism brought to the point of absurdity, is the caricature figure of the "God's gendarme", the monk brother Arkanzhia. He is ready to destroy all living things, full of disgust for the very manifestation of life. The complete opposite of this "freak" is the philosopher Zhanberia, a follower of the 18th century enlighteners.

In the last novel of the epic - "Doctor Pascal" (1893) - the development of four generations of Rougon-Macquart is summed up. Dr. Pascal follows the history of his family, studying the problem of heredity. But even in the novel, where this problem is given great attention, it is not the main one. Doctor Pascal himself, beloved by the people, a noble man, is not connected with his family, devoid of its negative features; the people call him simply "Doctor Pascal", but not Rougon.

The novel sings of life, love, alien to the world of proprietary interests. The ending of the novel is symbolic, in which the child of the deceased Pascal, “raising up, like a banner, his little hand, as if calling for life.”

But the true completion of the Rougon-Macquart epic is the novel Defeat, although it is the penultimate, nineteenth, in the series.

rout

This novel was created at a time of increased reaction, the dominance of the military and the monarchists, who especially manifested themselves in the well-known Dreyfus affair. He exposes the reactionary ruling circles, who are ready to seek salvation from the threat of revolution in military adventures. That is why the novel was received with hostility by the reaction. Zola was accused of being anti-patriotic.

Defeat (1892) completes the social history of the Second Empire. The novel depicts the tragedy of France - the defeat French army near Sedan, defeat in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871. These events were reflected in Maupassant, Hugo and other writers, but Zola tried to cover them in full, to find out the reasons for the defeat. The writer devoted a lot of time to studying the history of the war, documents, was interested in the stories of its participants, got acquainted with the area where the battles took place.

in the depiction of events and battle scenes Zola followed the realistic tradition of Stendhal and L. Tolstoy, rejecting the false manner of embellishing the war. This did not prevent Zola from paying tribute to the patriotism of the French people, French soldiers. He spoke excitedly about the exploits of the defenders of desecrated France. Among them simple soldiers- Corporal Jean, artilleryman Honore, dying on a gun carriage, the heroic defenders of Bazeille - worker Laurent and employee Weiss and many others simple people. These are patriotic officers who are ready to honestly fulfill their duty - Colonel de Weil, General Marguerite. On their side are all the sympathies of the author, in them he sees best forces of his people.

The people are not to blame for the defeat of France. Zola saw the cause of the military catastrophe in the betrayal of the ruling classes, in the rotten political regime of the country. The symbol of the decayed regime is the puppet figure of the emperor, who, with his huge retinue, only gets in the way under the feet of the army. Zola denounces the unpreparedness for the war of the leadership, the lack of coordination of actions, the careerism of the officers. The betrayal of the upper classes is determined by their greed, proprietary interests. Fabricant Delahers and his wife quickly find a common language with the invaders. The fist-farmer Fouchard spares a piece of bread for his soldiers, but cooperates with the Germans.

The army mass is depicted differentially, remembered vivid images soldiers and officers - this is the great merit of the novel.

Showing depravity political regime France, which led her to disaster, the writer, however, rejected the way out chosen by the people of Paris - the Commune. The two final chapters of the novel depict battles between the Versailles troops and the Communards. The writer did not understand the Paris Commune, he considered it the result of demoralization caused by the war. His favorite hero, the peasant Jean, whom Zola considered the "soul of France", is forced to shoot the Communards. Maurice, Jean's friend, becomes a Communard, but the whole appearance of this hero is not characteristic of the true defenders of the Commune. He is only an anarchist fellow traveler of the Commune. Maurice is shot by his friend Jean.

The ending of the novel expresses the views of Zola, who chose the reformist path. Jean returns to earth, "ready to take on the great, difficult task of rebuilding the whole of France."

three cities

In the 90s, struggling with the Catholic reaction, Zola created the anti-clerical series of novels "Three Cities".

The first novel of the trilogy, Lourdes (1894), depicts a small town in the south, which the churchmen have turned into "a huge bazaar where masses and souls are sold." The peasant girl Bernadette, suffering from hallucinations, had a vision of the Virgin Mary at the source. The church created a legend about a miracle, organized a pilgrimage to Lourdes, establishing a new profitable enterprise.

The priest Pierre Froment accompanies the sick girl Marie de Guersin, a childhood friend, to Lourdes. Marie is healed. But Pierre understands that Marie's healing is not the result of a miracle, but of self-hypnosis, which can be fully explained by science. Seeing the deceit, the swindle of the "holy fathers", the depravity of the city, in which the "holy source" destroyed the patriarchal morals, Pierre Froment is painfully going through a spiritual crisis, losing the remnants of faith. He believes that "Catholicism has outlived itself." Pierre dreams of a new religion.

In the next novel, Rome (1896), Pierre Froment breaks with the church.

In the third novel, "Paris" (1898), Pierre Froment tries to find his vocation and solace in philanthropy. Zola draws in connection with this flashy social contradictions, the abyss between the rich and the poor. Being a man of reason, Pierre is convinced of the helplessness of philanthropy.

And yet, rejecting the revolutionary path of changing intolerant social conditions, Zola believes that gradual evolution will play a decisive role. He pins his hopes on science and technological progress. This manifested the reformist delusions of the writer, who did not take the revolutionary path.

The trilogy "Three Cities", exposing the dark machinations of the churchmen, the intrigues of the Vatican, was catholic church in the index of banned books.

Four Gospels

The next series of Zola's novels, The Four Gospels, was a response to the strengthening of the revolutionary labor movement and the spread of socialist ideas. “Whenever I now undertake any research, I come across socialism,” wrote Zola.

The series includes the novels Fertility (1899), Labor (1901), Truth (1903), and the unfinished Justice.

The most significant novel in this series is Labour. The work is powerfully denouncing capitalist reality, exposing class contradictions. I remember the realistic description of hard labor, the monstrous exploitation of workers at the Abyss plant. These conditions give rise to general depravity - the degeneration of the bourgeoisie from excesses and luxury, the workers - from hopeless poverty.

Zola is looking for ways to change inhuman relations. He understands the need for socialism, but considers it possible to achieve it only by a reformist path. The novel shows the outdated social-utopian ideas of Fourier, which Zola was fond of at that time.

The reformist idea of ​​the commonwealth of "labour, capital and talent" is guided by main character, engineer Luc Fromeman, son of Pierre Fromeman. He finds support and capital from a wealthy scientist - the physicist Jordan. This is how the metallurgical plant in Kreshri arises on new principles; around it, isolated from the whole world, is a socialist city, where new relations, a new way of life are being created.

Labor becomes free. Kreshri's influence extends to "The Abyss". The love of young workers from families of workers and wealthy citizens erases social barriers. The "Abyss" disappears, a happy society remains.

The weakness and illusory nature of such a utopia are obvious. But it is characteristic that Zola connects the future of mankind with socialism.

Zola and Russia

In the preface to the French edition of the collection Experimental Novel, Zola wrote that he would forever retain his gratitude to Russia, which, in the difficult years of his life, when his books were not published in France, came to his aid.

Interest in Russia awakened in Zola, undoubtedly under the influence of I. S. Turgenev, who lived in France in the 60-70s. With the assistance of Turgenev, Zola became an employee of the Russian journal Vestnik Evropy, where from 1875 to 1880 he published many correspondence and literary critical articles.

Zola was popular writer among Russian progressive readers, who saw him as a representative of the "natural realistic school". But the demanding Russian reader, as well as advanced criticism, condemned Zola's passion for naturalism in such novels as "Nana", "Earth".

In the 1990s, E. Zola's struggle with reaction, participation in the Dreyfus affair, his courage and nobility aroused the ardent sympathy of the progressive Russian public, the writers Chekhov and Gorky.

Zola (Zola) Emile (1840-1902), French writer.

Born in Paris. The early death of his father led to the fact that Zola grew up in poverty, went to work early (he started as a clerk in a publishing house); from 1865 he made a living publishing poetry, short stories and literary criticism.

Thérèse Raquin, Zola's first significant novel, was published in 1867. With this novel, Zola "founded" a new literary direction- naturalism.

The main work is a 20-volume series of novels "Rougon-Macquarts" (1871-93), the history of one family in the era of the Second Empire. In the novels of the series The Belly of Paris (1873), The Trap (1877), Germinal (1885), Money (1891), Defeat (1892), social contradictions are depicted with great realistic force. Zola is a supporter of the principles of naturalism (the book "Experimental Novel", 1880). He protested in the pamphlet "I accuse", 1898. This letter-pamphlet was directed against French officials who, on false charges, found the artillery officer Alfred Dreyfus guilty of treason (the famous "Dreyfus case").

Zola's work has had a significant impact on modern literature.

French writer

Born April 2, 1840 in Paris, in an Italian-French family: his father was an Italian, a civil engineer.

Baby and school years Zola spends in Aix-en-Provence, where one of his closest friends is the artist Paul Cezanne.

1847 - Zola's father dies, leaving the family in distress.

1852 - Zola begins her studies at the college.

1858 - counting on the help of her late husband's friends, Ms. Zola moves with her son to Paris, where he continues his education at the Lyceum.

1862-1866 - Zola works at the Ashet publishing house, and then quits in the hope of securing her existence by literary work.

1864 - Zola collects stories and short stories of a romantic plan written by him at different times and publishes them under common name"Tales of Ninon" (Contes a Ninon).

1865 - Zola publishes the first novel - a frank, veiled autobiography "Confession of Claude" (La Confession de Claude).

1867 - the novel "Marseilles secrets" (Les mysteres de Marseille), demonstrating the skill of Zola as a feuilletonist and his interest in social problems. Also published this year is the young Zola's final work, Therese Raquin, a deep exploration of the remorse that befalls a murderer and his accomplice.

1868 - Zola comes up with the idea of ​​a series of novels dedicated to one family ("Rougon-Macquart. Natural and social history one family in the era of the Second Empire" - Les Rougun-Macquart, histoire naturelle et sociale d'une famille sous le Second Empire), whose fate has been studied for four to five generations. Focusing on " human comedy» Balzac and his panorama in depicting reality, Zola does not abandon his naturalistic doctrine. He considers the study of questions of heredity and environment on the example of one family to be the first task of his cycle. The Rougon Macquarts are the offspring of a feeble-minded woman who dies in latest volume series, reaching a hundred years of age and completely losing his mind. From her children - one legitimate and two illegitimate - three branches of the family originate. The second task of the cycle, as the writer formulates it: “to study the entire Second Empire, from the coup d'état to the present day. To embody modern society, villains and heroes in types. This intention of Zola directly refers to the Balzacian understanding of the writer as the "secretary of society".

The first books in the series are not very interesting.

1871 - the first novel in the Rougon-Macquart series, The Rougon Career (La fortuna des Rougon), a kind of prologue that tells about the origin of the Rougon-Macquart family and at the same time about the emergence of the Second Empire regime, and the second novel about representatives of the prosperous branch of the family "Production » (La Curee).

1973 - the third novel about the representatives of the third branch, the Macquarts, who are extremely unstable because their ancestor Antoine Macquart was an alcoholic - "The Womb of Paris" (Le Ventre de Paris), which recreates the atmosphere of the capital's central market.

1874 - the fourth novel "The Conquest of Plassant" (Le ventre de Paris).

1875 - the fifth novel about the second branch of the Rougon-Macquart family, La Faute de l "Abbe Mouret".

1876 ​​- The sixth novel in the Rougon-Macquart series, about members of a prosperous branch of the family, "His Excellency Eugene Rougon" (Son Excellence Eugene Rougon), an exploration of the political machinations of the reign of Napoleon III.

1877 - the seventh volume of "Rougon-Macquart" "The Trap" (L "Assommoir") is published, which has won great success and brought Zola both fame and fortune. He acquires a house in Meudon near Paris and gathers young writers around him (among them were K .Huismans and Guy de Maupassant), who formed a short-lived "naturalistic school".

1878 - the eighth novel "Page of Love" (Une page d'amour).

1880 - Ninth novel, Nana, in which the third-generation Macquart heroine becomes a prostitute and her sexual magnetism confuses elite.

1882 - the tenth novel about the second branch of the Rougon-Macquart family, the Mouret family, Pot-Bouille.

1883 - the eleventh novel about the second branch of the Rougon-Macquart family "Ladies' happiness" (Au Bonheur des dames).

1884 - The twelfth novel "The Joy of Life" (La joie de vivre).

1885 - The thirteenth novel "Germinal" (Germinal), dedicated to the miners' strike in the mines of northern France.

1886 - the fourteenth novel "Creativity" (L "Oeuvre), which includes the characteristics of many famous artists and writers of the era.

1887 - the fifteenth novel "Earth" (La Terre), which tells about peasant life.

1888 - the sixteenth novel "The Dream" (Le reve).

1890 - The seventeenth novel, "The Beast Man" (La Bete humaine), which describes the life of railway workers.

1891 - the eighteenth novel from the Rougon-Macquart series about representatives of a prosperous branch of the family - "Money" (L "Argent), which deals with speculation in landed property and securities.

1892 - The nineteenth novel "The Defeat" (La Debacle) - a depiction of the Franco-Prussian war and the first major war novel in French literature.

1893 - the twentieth novel "Doctor Pascal" (Le docteur Pascal), which ends the Rougon-Macquart cycle.

1894-1898 - the cycle "Three Cities" (Les Trois Villes) - "Lourdes" (Lourdes, 1894), "Rome" (Rome, 1896), "Paris" (Paris, 1898).

1898 - Zola writes an open letter to the President of the Republic "I accuse" (J "accuse), which contains an exposure of the army elite, which is primarily responsible for the apparent miscarriage of justice in the Dreyfus case (1897-1898), an officer of the French General Staff, a Jew by nationality, unjustly convicted of selling military secrets to Germany in 1894. Because of this letter, Zola has to flee to England, as he is accused of slander and sentenced to a year in prison.

1899 - after the situation changes in favor of Dreyfus, Zola returns to France.

1899-1902 - the cycle "Four Gospels" (Les Quatre Evangiles), which remained unfinished (the fourth volume was not written).

September 28, 1902 - Zola died suddenly in his Paris apartment. The cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning - an "accident", according to some historians, set up by the writer's political enemies.

Zola was the first novelist to create a series of books about members of the same family. Many writers followed his example, incl. J. Duhamel (Chronicles of Pasquier), D. Galsworthy ("The Forsyte Saga") and D. Masters (books about the Savages) and many others. In addition, Zola is the author of the theory of the experimental novel. He created a new literary genre he calls it so, wishing to emphasize by this that in his artistic work he uses the scientific method of precise observation and objective description.

Brief literary encyclopedia: In 8 vols. M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1962. Foreign writers: Biographical Dictionary. - M.: Education, Educational literature, 1997.

Emile Zola- French writer, one of the most significant representatives of realism of the second half of the XIX century.

The son of an engineer who took French citizenship Italian descent(in Italian, the surname is read as Zola), who built a canal in Aix. Emile spent his childhood and school years in Aix-en-Provence, where one of his closest friends was the artist Paul Cezanne. He was less than seven years old when his father died, leaving the family in distress. In 1858, counting on the help of her late husband's friends, Madame Zola moved with her son to Paris.

In early 1862, Emil managed to find a job at the Hachette publishing house. After working for about four years, he quit in the hope of securing his existence by literary work. In 1865, Zola published his first novel, a tough, thinly veiled autobiography, La Confession de Claude. The book brought him scandalous fame, which was further increased by the ardent defense of the painting of Edouard Manet.

Around 1868, Zola had the idea of ​​a series of novels dedicated to one family (Rougon-Macquart), whose fate is being explored for four or five generations. The variety of novel plots made it possible to show many aspects of French life during the Second Empire. The first books in the series did not arouse much interest, but the seventh volume, "The Trap" (L'Assommoir, 1877), was a great success and brought Zola both fame and fortune. He bought a house in the suburbs of Paris and gathered around him young writers (among them Joris-Karl Huysmans and Guy de Maupassant) who formed a short-lived "naturalistic school".

Subsequent novels in the series were met with great interest - they were vilified and praised with the same zeal. The twenty volumes of the Rougon-Macquart cycle represent Zola's main literary achievement, although the earlier Thérèse Raquin (1867) must be noted, a deep study of the feeling of remorse that comprehends the killer and his accomplice. IN last years Zola's life created two more cycles: Les Trois Villes (1894-1898) and Les Quatre Vangiles (1899-1902).

Zola was the first novelist to create a series of books about members of the same family. One of the reasons that prompted Zola to choose the structure of the cycle was the desire to show the operation of the laws of heredity. The Rougon-Macquarts are the offspring of an imbecile woman who dies in the last volume of the series, having reached the age of a century and having completely lost her mind. From her children - one legitimate and two illegitimate - three branches of the family originate. The first is represented by the prosperous Rougons, members of this family appear in such novels as His Excellency Eugène Rougon (1876), a study of political machinations during the reign of Napoleon III; "Production" (La Curée, 1871) and "Money" (L'Argent, 1891), which deals with speculation in landed property and securities. The second branch of the genus is the Mouret family. Octave Mouret, an ambitious red-taper at Nakipi (Pot-Bouille, 1882), creates one of the first Parisian department stores in the pages of "Ladies' Happiness" (Au Bonheur des Dames, 1883), while other members of the family run more than humble life, like the village priest Serge Mouret in the enigmatic and poetic novel La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret, 1875. Representatives of the third branch, the Macquarts, are extremely unbalanced, since their ancestor Antoine Macquart was an alcoholic. Members of this family play prominent roles in Zola's most powerful novels, such as The Belly of Paris (Le Ventre de Paris, 1873), which recreates the atmosphere of the capital's central market; The Trap, which depicts in harsh tones the life of Parisian workers in the 1860s; "Nana" (Nana, 1880), whose heroine, a representative of the third generation of Makkarov, becomes a prostitute, and her sexual magnetism confuses the high society; "Germinal" (Germinal, 1885), the greatest creation of Zola, dedicated to the miners' strike in the mines of northern France; "Creativity" (L'Œuvre, 1886), which includes the characteristics of many famous artists and writers of the era; "Earth" (La Terre, 1887), a story about peasant life; Beast Man (La Bête humaine, 1890), which describes the life of railroad workers; and finally, La Débâcle (1892), a depiction of the Franco-Prussian war and the first major war novel in French literature.

By the time the cycle was completed, Zola enjoyed worldwide fame and, by all accounts, was the largest writer of France after Victor Hugo. All the more sensational was his intervention in the Dreyfus affair (1897-1898). Zola became convinced that Alfred Dreyfus, an officer of the French General Staff, a Jew by nationality, was unjustly convicted in 1894 for selling military secrets to Germany. The denunciation of the military leadership as chiefly responsible for an apparent miscarriage of justice took the form of an open letter to the President of the Republic, with the heading "I accuse" (J'accuse, 1898). Sentenced for libel to a year in prison, Zola fled to England and was able to return to his homeland in 1899, when the tide turned in favor of Dreyfus.

Zola died in Paris from carbon monoxide poisoning, according to the official version - due to a chimney malfunction. His last words addressed to his wife: “I feel bad, my head is splitting. Look, the dog is sick too. We must have eaten something. Nothing, everything will pass. There is no need to disturb anyone ... ". Contemporaries suspected that it could be a murder, but they could not find irrefutable evidence for this theory.

ZOLA (Zola) Emile (1840-1902), French writer. The main work - a 20-volume series of novels "Rougon-Maquart" (1871-93) - the history of one family in the era of the Second Empire. In the novels of the series The Belly of Paris (1873), The Trap (1877), Germinal (1885), Money (1891), Defeat (1892), social contradictions are depicted with great realistic force. Zola is a supporter of the principles of naturalism (the book "Experimental Novel", 1880). He protested against the Dreyfus case (pamphlet "I accuse", 1898).

ZOLA (Zola) Emil ( full name Emile Edouard Charles Antoine) (April 2, 1840, Paris - September 28, 1902, ibid.), French writer.

creative way

Zola was born into a mixed Italian-French family. His father, an engineer who came from an old Venetian family, signed a contract to participate in the construction of a canal that was supposed to provide Aix-en-Provence with water. In this town, which became the prototype of Plassant in the Rougon-Macquart cycle, the writer spent his childhood and received his education. He studied with Paul Cezanne, who later introduced him to the circle of Impressionist painters.

In 1857, Emil's father died suddenly, leaving the family with very modest savings, and a year later the widow decided to go with her son to Paris, hoping to get the support of her late husband's friends. Zola was interrupted by odd jobs, until at the beginning of 1862 he entered the service of the Ashet publishing house, where he worked for about four years. At the same time, he wrote articles for periodicals, and in 1864 published the first collection of short stories, Tales of Ninon. In 1865, his first semi-autobiographical novel, Claude's Confession, appeared. The book brought him fame, which increased even more thanks to a vivid speech in defense of the paintings of Edouard Manet on the pages of the review. art exhibition 1866.

In the preface to the novel "Thérèse Raquin" (1867), Zola first formulated the essence of the naturalistic method: carried away by the ideas of the literature of the document, he set as his goal the creation of a "scientific novel" that would include data from the natural sciences, medicine and physiology. In the novel "Madeleine Ferat" (1868), the writer made the first attempt to show the laws of heredity in action. Around the same time, he had the idea to create a series of novels dedicated to one family, whose fate has been explored for five generations.

In 1870, Zola married Gabrielle-Alexandrine Mel, and in 1873 he bought a house in Medan (near Paris), where young writers began to gather, forming a short-lived "naturalistic school". In 1880 they published a collection of short stories, Medan Evenings. Zola himself published collections of articles "Experimental Novel" (1880) and "Natural Novelists" (1881) - theoretical writings designed to explain the essence of the new method: the character, temperament and behavior of a person are determined by the laws of heredity, the environment and historic moment, and the task of the writer is to objectively depict the exact moment under certain conditions.

In the last years of his life, Zola created two more cycles: Three Cities (Lourdes, 1894; Rome, 1896; Paris, 1898) and Four Gospels (Fecundity, 1899; Labor, 1901; "Truth", publ. 1903). The books of the first cycle are united by the ideological quest of the protagonist - Pierre Froment. The second cycle, which remained unfinished (the fourth volume was not written), is a social utopia in which the writer tried to realize his dream of the coming triumph of reason and labor.

Dreyfus Affair

At the end of his life, Zola enjoyed worldwide fame and was considered - after the death of Victor Hugo - the most prominent figure among all living French writers. His reputation was strengthened by his intervention in the Dreyfus affair: Zola became convinced that this officer of the French General Staff, a Jew by nationality, was unjustly convicted of espionage in 1894. The denunciation of the military leadership, which was primarily responsible for the apparent miscarriage of justice, took the form of an open letter to the President of the Republic with the heading "I accuse" (1898). As a result, Zola was convicted of "libel" and sentenced to a year in prison. He had to hide in England, and he returned to his homeland only in June 1900, when the situation changed in favor of Dreyfus. The writer died suddenly: the cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning, but this "accident" was most likely set up by his political enemies. At the funeral, Anatole France called his brother "the conscience of the nation." In 1908 Zola's remains were transferred to the Panthéon. During his lifetime, he was never elected to the French Academy, although he was nominated no less than nineteen times.

family saga

Zola called his grandiose epic "Rougon-Macquart. Natural and social history of one family in the era of the Second Empire" (1871-1893). The original plan included ten novels, but stormy historical events(The Franco-Prussian War and the Commune) prompted the writer to expand the scope of the cycle, which in its final form has twenty novels. The Rougon-Macquarts are the offspring of an imbecile woman who dies in the last volume of the series, having reached the age of a century and having completely lost her mind. From her children - one legitimate and two illegitimate - three branches of the family originate. The first of these is represented by the prosperous Rugons. Members of this family appear in such novels as The Rougon Career (1871), which takes place in the small town of Plassant in December 1851, on the eve of Louis Bonaparte's coup d'état; "His Excellency Eugene Rougon" (1876), which examines the political machinations in the reign of Napoleon III; "Money" (1891), dedicated to speculation in landed property and securities. The second branch of the genus is the Mouret family. Octave Mouret, the ambitious red tape in Naquipi (1882), creates one of the first Parisian department stores in The Lady's Happiness (1883), while other members of the family lead a very modest life, like the village priest in the novel The Abbe Mouret's Misdemeanor ( 1875).

Representatives of the third branch are extremely unbalanced, since their progenitor was an alcoholic. Members of this family, the Macquarts and Lantiers, play prominent roles in Zola's most powerful novels. The Belly of Paris (1873) depicts the central market, against which the story of the brothers Florent and Quenu unfolds: the first of them was sent to hard labor for participating in the December events of 1851 - when he returned, he saw a gigantic market place on the site of past battles; During this time, Quenu grew up and married the beautiful Lisa, the daughter of the Macquarts of Plassans. Everyone considers Floran "Red", and he really dreams of a new uprising. On the denunciation of several merchants, including Lisa, he is again sent into exile, from where he will not be destined to return. The novel ends with Florent's friend, the painter Claude Lantier, walking around the market, where Lisa, the triumph of the womb, is laying out tongues and hams on the counter. In the novel "Nana" (1880) the main actor Anna is the daughter of the drunken washerwoman Gervaise Macquart and the crippled worker Coupeau from the novel The Trap (1877). Economic circumstances and hereditary inclinations make her an actress and then a courtesan. From her comes a crazy call of the flesh, which drives crazy and enslaves men. In 1870, just before the beginning of the fatal war with Prussia for France, Nana fell ill with smallpox and died at the age of eighteen: her beautiful face turns into a purulent mask to the joyful cries of patriots: "To Berlin! To Berlin!" In "Germinal" (1885) a strike of miners is depicted, which is headed by a stranger - the mechanic Etienne Lantier. He meets the Russian socialist Souvarine, who, in the name of the triumph of the revolution, saws the supports in the mine. Etienne's beloved perishes in a stream of water, and he himself leaves the village: from under the ground, he hears the muffled blows of a pickle - work is in full swing in all the mines that have recently been on strike. In the novel "Creativity" (1886), both main characters come to Paris from Plassans. The novelist Sandoz and the artist Claude Lantier (whose prototypes Zola and Cezanne were considered by contemporaries) are champions of the new art. Dreaming of a synthesis of literature and science, Sandoz conceives a giant novel series that would cover and explain the entire history of mankind. Claude is even more obsessed with his ideas, and creativity becomes a real torture for him. In November 1870, he is found hanging in a noose in front of an unfinished painting for which his wife Christina posed for him. Sandoz in a rage burns this failed masterpiece, and at the funeral of a genius from whom nothing remains, he blames the end of the century with its rot and decay for everything: the air of the era is poisoned - a century that began with clarity and rationalism ends with a new wave of obscurantism.