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Émile Zola: A Biography
Although Emile Zola (1840-1902) is primarily remembered as a novelist, has had a wide range of talents as a playwright, librettist, journalist and crusader — he was unrelenting in his bitter attacks on politicians (including Napoleon III), the Church, the Army, social injustice and hypocrisy, and championed the cause of the working class.
His cause célèbre was the Dreyfus Affair; after writing the article J’accuse, he was prosecuted and fled to Britain, the ensuing scandal finally bringing down more than one French government.
From a youth of obscurity and often abject poverty, Zola became one of the most famous figures of France’s Third Republic. In this incisive biography, Alan Schom sheds new light on many of the artistic and literary figures among his friends, including Cézanne, Flaubert, Maupassant, Daudet, Turgenev, Goncourt and the ineffable Sarah Bernhardt.
Zola suffered both publicly and his writing was constantly misunderstood, and he was frequently vilified as a pornographer — even in British Parliament (his publisher in London was imprisoned!).
The calm of Zola’s private world was shattered by the clash between the two women in his his domineering wife, and his young mistress by whom he fathered two children.
The author has spent eleven years researching thousands of unpublished letters and other material, including information on the mysterious circumstances surrounding Zola’s death, for this rich and vibrant biography of Emile Zola — the man and the author.
Dr Schom’s biography is a revealing new analysis of this towering figure of European literature and leading light of the Naturalist Movement, whose novels include Nana, Germinal and La Bête humaine.
Alan Schom was Professor of French history at the University of California, Riverside, and later at Southern Connecticut State University. Having taken early retirement, he now writes full time at his home in Oxford. He gives occasional public lectures and travels frequently to France. Dr Schom has published a book on French colonial history, and several articles. He has two daughters.
His cause célèbre was the Dreyfus Affair; after writing the article J’accuse, he was prosecuted and fled to Britain, the ensuing scandal finally bringing down more than one French government.
From a youth of obscurity and often abject poverty, Zola became one of the most famous figures of France’s Third Republic. In this incisive biography, Alan Schom sheds new light on many of the artistic and literary figures among his friends, including Cézanne, Flaubert, Maupassant, Daudet, Turgenev, Goncourt and the ineffable Sarah Bernhardt.
Zola suffered both publicly and his writing was constantly misunderstood, and he was frequently vilified as a pornographer — even in British Parliament (his publisher in London was imprisoned!).
The calm of Zola’s private world was shattered by the clash between the two women in his his domineering wife, and his young mistress by whom he fathered two children.
The author has spent eleven years researching thousands of unpublished letters and other material, including information on the mysterious circumstances surrounding Zola’s death, for this rich and vibrant biography of Emile Zola — the man and the author.
Dr Schom’s biography is a revealing new analysis of this towering figure of European literature and leading light of the Naturalist Movement, whose novels include Nana, Germinal and La Bête humaine.
Alan Schom was Professor of French history at the University of California, Riverside, and later at Southern Connecticut State University. Having taken early retirement, he now writes full time at his home in Oxford. He gives occasional public lectures and travels frequently to France. Dr Schom has published a book on French colonial history, and several articles. He has two daughters.
303 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 20, 1987
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 18, 2022
An engaging, well-written biography. Schom did a fine job portraying Zola as writer, public figure and private individual. I’ve read much of Zola’s writing over a period of many years; I’ve also read a good deal about the man and the period in which he played such an important role. But I learned even more from Schom’s biography; it reinforced my impression of Zola as a great writer of both fiction and non-fiction and as an individual of courage who devoted much of his life to truth and justice in a world where lies and injustice are all too common.
Zola was of course human and Schom was not a hagiographer. We get Zola, “warts and all.” Zola was, from his forties on, one of the world’s most successful, and well-paid writers. But, unlike many of his peers, he wasn’t satisfied to go along to get along. He risked everything by taking a principled stand, based on facts and credible evidence, in the Dreyfus Affair, and there is evidence it may have cost him his life. Celebrities who, to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, are willing to stake their lives, fortunes and sacred honor in a just cause are very few and far between. For that alone, I will always admire Emile Zola.
Zola was of course human and Schom was not a hagiographer. We get Zola, “warts and all.” Zola was, from his forties on, one of the world’s most successful, and well-paid writers. But, unlike many of his peers, he wasn’t satisfied to go along to get along. He risked everything by taking a principled stand, based on facts and credible evidence, in the Dreyfus Affair, and there is evidence it may have cost him his life. Celebrities who, to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, are willing to stake their lives, fortunes and sacred honor in a just cause are very few and far between. For that alone, I will always admire Emile Zola.
April 29, 2022
Excellent Read
I came to reading this book about Emile Zola after watching a classic movie made in the 1930s. Paul Muni played Zola. I was so taken by his story, I needed to read more about him.
I was not disappointed. The author did his memory well. It's not altogether written chronologically... But, that's ok...apparently a lot of things were happening all at the same time in history. As usually happens with time and people so we are given a more in-depth idea to the novelist and the man.
Anyone interested in French or even international literature would be quite pleased with this biography of a great man of letters.
I came to reading this book about Emile Zola after watching a classic movie made in the 1930s. Paul Muni played Zola. I was so taken by his story, I needed to read more about him.
I was not disappointed. The author did his memory well. It's not altogether written chronologically... But, that's ok...apparently a lot of things were happening all at the same time in history. As usually happens with time and people so we are given a more in-depth idea to the novelist and the man.
Anyone interested in French or even international literature would be quite pleased with this biography of a great man of letters.
September 3, 2025
Alan Schom’s biography of Émile Zola reinforced, and in many ways deepened, my impression of Zola as not only a brilliant writer but also a man of extraordinary courage and moral conviction. Through both his fiction and nonfiction, Zola consistently demonstrated a rare commitment to truth, but this biography reveals the personal sacrifices behind that commitment with clarity and nuance. Schom paints a portrait of a figure who was not content to remain a passive observer of his society but instead chose to engage directly with its injustices, often at great personal risk.
One of the most biggest aspects of the book is its exploration of Zola’s role in the Dreyfus Affair. Zola’s decision to publish “J’Accuse,” openly condemning the miscarriage of justice against Captain Dreyfus, was not just a literary act. It was a moral stand that exposed him to severe backlash, legal prosecution, and ultimately a self-imposed exile. Reading about the gravity of these consequences drove home just how extraordinary his commitment to justice truly was.
One of the most biggest aspects of the book is its exploration of Zola’s role in the Dreyfus Affair. Zola’s decision to publish “J’Accuse,” openly condemning the miscarriage of justice against Captain Dreyfus, was not just a literary act. It was a moral stand that exposed him to severe backlash, legal prosecution, and ultimately a self-imposed exile. Reading about the gravity of these consequences drove home just how extraordinary his commitment to justice truly was.
March 11, 2019
Really disappointing. It's obviously thoroughly researched and I think Schom has a genuine passion for Zola's work and his attempt to live a principled life, but unfortunately the book is dull. No, I don't know how he did it either. :) There's a fantastic book to be written about Zola, but this ain't it.
December 20, 2015
Zola’s life is fascinating but this book manages to make it really quite dull. Meticulously researched and no doubt accurate, there’s a blandness here which the author never manages to overcome, not helped by too many, and too lengthy, quotations – from letters, articles, speeches – which simply slow down the narrative. Too much detail can be as irritating as too little, and the reader really doesn’t need to know about every article Zola wrote. I found this biography uninspired and pedestrian, and it conveyed little of the vibrancy and passion that I associate with its subject.
August 19, 2013
I was resolved to read a Zola biography after watching the Paul Muni movie for the umpteeth time. The book does not disappoint. It approaches Zola's Jewish views honestly and covers the Dreyfus affair and all of its players thoroughly and in relatively short order. Recommended. 1987 edition.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews