Birth of Émile Zola

Émile Zola was born on 2 April 1840 in rue Saint-Joseph. A French novelist, journalist and critic, Zola was the leading figure of literary naturalism, which sought to depict life and society with scientific detachment. His masterpiece is the Rougon-Macquart cycle of twenty novels, which follows one family through the Second Empire and includes L'Assommoir, Nana and Germinal, about a miners' strike. In January 1898 he published the open letter J'Accuse in a Paris newspaper, accusing the army of covering up the wrongful conviction of Captain Alfred Dreyfus. He was convicted of libel and fled briefly to England. He died of carbon monoxide poisoning from a blocked chimney, and some of his supporters believed it was murder.

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