Books with author Émile Joseph Zola

“The Downfall”, La Débâcle is a novel by Émile Zola published in 1892, the penultimate in les Rougon-Macquart series. The story is set against the background of the political and military events that ended the reign of Napoléon III and the Second Empire in 1870, in particular the Franco-Prussian War, the Battle of Sedan and the Paris Commune. (Excerpt from Wikipedia)

"Paris" is the third of Emile Zola's "Cities" trilogy, following Lourdes and Rome. Abbe Pierre Froment has now been disillusioned in his faith twice, once at Lourdes and again in Rome. On his return to Paris he decides that, if he himself no longer believes, he can at least still give hope to others. He joins Abbe Rose in attempting to succour and assist the poor of Paris. (Goodreads)

"His Masterpiece", the fourteenth novel in Émile Zola’s "Les Rougon-Macquart" cycle, follows the talented painter Claude Lantier as he tries to create the painting that will make his name. However, in spite of his talent, he is never fully satisfied with his work, and the public brutally rejects his avant-garde style. The novel was inspired by Zola’s friendship with the Impressionist painter Paul Cézanne, and offers an unflinching portrayal of the challenges of artistic creation.“His Masterpiece" is a great fictionalized account of the Parisian art world in the mid 19th century, and the emerging Realism, Naturalism and Impressionism movements.

'The subject was to be War. I had to consider War in its relation to various classes of society—War vis-à-vis the bourgeois, War vis-à-vis the peasant, War vis-à-vis the workman. How the war was brought about—that is to say, the state of mind of men in France at the time—was a consideration which also supplied me with a number of characters. I had to show, in a series of types, France who had lost the use of liberty, France drunk with pleasure, France fated irrevocably to disaster. I had to have types to show France so prompt to enthusiasm, so prompt to despair. And then there were to be shown the immense faults committed, and to show by character how the commission of such faults was possible, a natural sequence of a certain psychological state of mind of a certain preponderating class, which existed in the last days[Pg vii] of the Empire. Then each phase of action had to be typified. The question of the Emperor and his surroundings—I had to have characters to explain "the sick man" and his state at the time. I had to show how it was with the peasants of the period, and hence to equip a character or two for that purpose. The Francs-tireurs played an important part in the epoch; it therefore became necessary for me to incarnate these, to create a typical Franc-tireur. The spies and spying had their influence on the whole; I had to have a spy. By the way, the spy in my book is one of the few German characters that I have created—four or five—this spy and an officer or two. Then, having thus, with a stroke of the rake, dragged together all that I could find as likely to illustrate my period, both historically and psychologically considered, I wrote out rapidly—the work of one feverish morning—a maquette, or rough draft of all I wanted to do, some fifteen or twenty pages.

HIS MASTERPIECEBy Emile ZolaEdited, With a Preface, By Ernest Alfred VizetellyPREFACE'HIS MASTERPIECE,' which in the original French bears the title of L'Oeuvre , is a strikingly accurate story of artistic life in Paris during the latter years of the Second Empire. Amusing at times, extremely pathetic and even painful at others, it not only contributes a necessary element to the Rougon Macquart series of novels a series illustrative of all phases of life in France within certain dates but it also represents a particular period of M. Zola's own career and work. Some years, indeed, before the latter had made himself known at all widely as a novelist, he had acquired among Parisian painters and sculptors considerable notoriety as a revolutionary art critic, a fervent champion of that 'Open air' school which came into being during the Second Empire, and which found its first real master in Edouard Manet, whose then derided works are regarded, in these later days, as masterpieces. Manet died before his genius was fully recognised; still he lived long enough to reap some measure of recognition and to see his influence triumph in more than one respect among his brother artists. Indeed, few if any painters left a stronger mark on the art of the second half of the nineteenth century than he did, even though the school, which he suggested rather than established, lapsed largely into mere impressionism a term, by the way, which he himself coined already in 1858; for it is an error to attribute it as is often done to his friend and junior, Claude Monet.It was at the time of the Salon of 1866 that M. Zola, who criticised that exhibition in the Evenement newspaper, first came to the front as an art critic, slashing out, to right and left, with all the vigour of a born combatant, and championing M. Manet whom he did not as yet know personally with a fervour born of the strongest convictions. He had come to the conclusion that the derided painter was being treated with injustice, and that opinion sufficed to throw him into the fray; even as, in more recent years, the belief that Captain Dreyfus was innocent impelled him in like manner to plead that unfortunate officer's cause. When M. Zola first championed Manet and his disciples he was only twenty six years old, yet he did not hesitate to pit himself against men who were regarded as the most eminent painters and critics of France; and although (even as in the Dreyfus case) the only immediate result of his campaign was to bring him hatred and contumely, time, which always has its revenges, has long since shown how right he was in forecasting the ultimate victory of Manet and his principal methods.Some of the articles will be found in the volume of his miscellaneous writings entitled Mes Haines .

Preceded byL'Argent Followed byLe Docteur Pascal La Débâcle is a novel by Émile Zola published in 1892, the penultimate in les Rougon-Macquart series. The story is set against the background of the political and military events that ended the reign of Napoléon III and the Second Empire in 1870, in particular the Franco-Prussian War, the Battle of Sedan and the Paris Commune.--Wikipedia

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.