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Four Short Stories
Emile Zola (1840-1902) 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 his 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 the respectable (that is, legitimate) Rougons and the disreputable (illegitimate) Macquarts, for five generations. His works include Therese Raquin (1867), Germinal (1885), Abbé Mouret's Transgression (1886), The Three Cities, Part I (1894), The Three Cities, Part II (1896), The Three Cities, Part III (1898), Fruitfulness (1900), and A Love Episode (1905).
556 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
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255 people want to read
About the author
Émile Zola
2,767 books4,510 followersÉmile Zola was a prominent French novelist, journalist, and playwright widely regarded as a key figure in the development of literary naturalism. His work profoundly influenced both literature and society through its commitment to depicting reality with scientific objectivity and exploring the impact of environment and heredity on human behavior. Born and raised in France, Zola experienced early personal hardship following the death of his father, which deeply affected his understanding of social and economic struggles—a theme that would later permeate his writings.
Zola began his literary career working as a clerk for a publishing house, where he developed his skills and cultivated a passion for literature. His early novels, such as Thérèse Raquin, gained recognition for their intense psychological insight and frank depiction of human desires and moral conflicts. However, it was his monumental twenty-volume series, Les Rougon-Macquart, that established his lasting reputation. This cycle of novels offered a sweeping examination of life under the Second French Empire, portraying the lives of a family across generations and illustrating how hereditary traits and social conditions shape individuals’ destinies. The series embodies the naturalist commitment to exploring human behavior through a lens informed by emerging scientific thought.
Beyond his literary achievements, Zola was a committed social and political activist. His involvement in the Dreyfus Affair is one of the most notable examples of his dedication to justice. When Captain Alfred Dreyfus was wrongfully accused and convicted of treason, Zola published his famous open letter, J’Accuse…!, which condemned the French military and government for corruption and anti-Semitism. This act of courage led to his prosecution and temporary exile but played a crucial role in eventual justice for Dreyfus and exposed deep divisions in French society.
Zola’s personal life was marked by both stability and complexity. He married Éléonore-Alexandrine Meley, who managed much of his household affairs, and later had a long-term relationship with Jeanne Rozerot, with whom he fathered two children. Throughout his life, Zola remained an incredibly prolific writer, producing not only novels but also essays, plays, and critical works that investigated the intersections between literature, science, and society.
His legacy continues to resonate for its profound impact on literature and for his fearless commitment to social justice. Zola’s work remains essential reading for its rich narrative detail, social critique, and pioneering approach to the realistic portrayal of human life. His role in the Dreyfus Affair stands as a powerful example of the intellectual’s responsibility to speak truth to power.
Zola began his literary career working as a clerk for a publishing house, where he developed his skills and cultivated a passion for literature. His early novels, such as Thérèse Raquin, gained recognition for their intense psychological insight and frank depiction of human desires and moral conflicts. However, it was his monumental twenty-volume series, Les Rougon-Macquart, that established his lasting reputation. This cycle of novels offered a sweeping examination of life under the Second French Empire, portraying the lives of a family across generations and illustrating how hereditary traits and social conditions shape individuals’ destinies. The series embodies the naturalist commitment to exploring human behavior through a lens informed by emerging scientific thought.
Beyond his literary achievements, Zola was a committed social and political activist. His involvement in the Dreyfus Affair is one of the most notable examples of his dedication to justice. When Captain Alfred Dreyfus was wrongfully accused and convicted of treason, Zola published his famous open letter, J’Accuse…!, which condemned the French military and government for corruption and anti-Semitism. This act of courage led to his prosecution and temporary exile but played a crucial role in eventual justice for Dreyfus and exposed deep divisions in French society.
Zola’s personal life was marked by both stability and complexity. He married Éléonore-Alexandrine Meley, who managed much of his household affairs, and later had a long-term relationship with Jeanne Rozerot, with whom he fathered two children. Throughout his life, Zola remained an incredibly prolific writer, producing not only novels but also essays, plays, and critical works that investigated the intersections between literature, science, and society.
His legacy continues to resonate for its profound impact on literature and for his fearless commitment to social justice. Zola’s work remains essential reading for its rich narrative detail, social critique, and pioneering approach to the realistic portrayal of human life. His role in the Dreyfus Affair stands as a powerful example of the intellectual’s responsibility to speak truth to power.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 28, 2022
Our book club chose to read any classic by Emile Zola for this month.
I have only recently started reading classics…. I know… I know… have I been in a cave for the last forty years???
Anyway, I have come to enjoy the short stories and novellas that are often found in the classics. It gives me opportunity to “try out” the author and to expand my reading experience.
So for Emile Zola many of his books are in French. Now being the good Canadian that I am, and living in an area that has a considerable amount of French roots, one would think I’d be well versed or even barely versed in our official language of French. Well good thing we have two official languages because I refused to take French classes in school opting instead for Latin, which ended up serving me quite well thank you!!
So …. I had to find something in English by Emile Zola. I found a book with four short stories, of which I read three… The fourth was just too long to catch my interest.
This looks like the book I read, it has the same title, and it includes the three stories that I read, but… the difference is the one I did not read was “Nana”, whereas this book has “The Flood” as the fourth story….(???)
Let me tell you about the the ones I did read:
The Miller’s Daughter
This short story is both action packed and emotion filled. The vivid descriptives tell the tale of the Prussians attacking a Mill in the French countryside on the eve of the wedding of the Miller’s daughter.
The story reflects both the atrocities of war and the courage of survival alongside the strength of love and inevitability of hope.
It’s an interesting approach to the story of the aggressors and the victims. Almost like a fairytale the satisfactory ending provides as awkward “happily ever after”… of sorts.
Captain Burle
Another bit unusual storyline by Emile Zola. Typically lively descriptions bring the characters to life and developed the two main characters sufficiently well. The story, involving a swindle by Captain Burle. His army life and position give him opportunity to steal f from the quartermaster’s fund, started out well enough and the plot seemed to be blossoming until it didn’t. The major hatched a plan to get back at the Captain. Maybe something was lost in the translation or maybe I just didn’t get it. Being learned in one discipline doesn’t translate to the classics despite spending a career reading, interpreting and opining!
I think understanding the classics is sometimes an acquired skill . Sort of like acquiring a taste for …, say scotch! It takes time and effort and a discerning and discriminating aptitude. Right now I’m still taste testing the ….classics … I’m good on the scotch.. just to be clear.
Anyway Captain Burle didn’t wrap up as I expected, which is okay, but it seemed to veer off into an entirely different direction which made me think that I must have missed something.
This author has many novels to his credit so I may try something else down the road. For now though, I will continue to delve into the world of the classics but perhaps with authors I am more familiar with.
Well … having said that …. I did enjoy Zola’s writing sufficiently that I will give it another go… later! Maybe now….
The Death of Olivier Becaille
This short story was an interesting study of one character, being the deceased, Olivier Becaille, as told by Olivier himself. Again an unusual premise, but this story was told with much emotion and a bit of urgency.
The descriptions were interesting however the pursuit of happiness travels a most unlikely road!
This Zola creation was much more entertaining than Captain Burle, though all three of these reads were dark narratives of common interactions revealing the character and trials of relationships. Interesting but not commanding!
An afterthought :
Zola’s writing seems to dwell on the relationship between characters and each character’s emotional state. Character development is steady but his plots are very thin, almost to the point of indifference. There seems to be a great imbalance between the grand descriptive nature of the characters and their emotional relationships and that of advancing the plot. I found that this disparity detracts a great deal from the overall flow of the storytelling leaving the entire read feeling flat.
I have only recently started reading classics…. I know… I know… have I been in a cave for the last forty years???
Anyway, I have come to enjoy the short stories and novellas that are often found in the classics. It gives me opportunity to “try out” the author and to expand my reading experience.
So for Emile Zola many of his books are in French. Now being the good Canadian that I am, and living in an area that has a considerable amount of French roots, one would think I’d be well versed or even barely versed in our official language of French. Well good thing we have two official languages because I refused to take French classes in school opting instead for Latin, which ended up serving me quite well thank you!!
So …. I had to find something in English by Emile Zola. I found a book with four short stories, of which I read three… The fourth was just too long to catch my interest.
This looks like the book I read, it has the same title, and it includes the three stories that I read, but… the difference is the one I did not read was “Nana”, whereas this book has “The Flood” as the fourth story….(???)
Let me tell you about the the ones I did read:
The Miller’s Daughter
This short story is both action packed and emotion filled. The vivid descriptives tell the tale of the Prussians attacking a Mill in the French countryside on the eve of the wedding of the Miller’s daughter.
The story reflects both the atrocities of war and the courage of survival alongside the strength of love and inevitability of hope.
It’s an interesting approach to the story of the aggressors and the victims. Almost like a fairytale the satisfactory ending provides as awkward “happily ever after”… of sorts.
Captain Burle
Another bit unusual storyline by Emile Zola. Typically lively descriptions bring the characters to life and developed the two main characters sufficiently well. The story, involving a swindle by Captain Burle. His army life and position give him opportunity to steal f from the quartermaster’s fund, started out well enough and the plot seemed to be blossoming until it didn’t. The major hatched a plan to get back at the Captain. Maybe something was lost in the translation or maybe I just didn’t get it. Being learned in one discipline doesn’t translate to the classics despite spending a career reading, interpreting and opining!
I think understanding the classics is sometimes an acquired skill . Sort of like acquiring a taste for …, say scotch! It takes time and effort and a discerning and discriminating aptitude. Right now I’m still taste testing the ….classics … I’m good on the scotch.. just to be clear.
Anyway Captain Burle didn’t wrap up as I expected, which is okay, but it seemed to veer off into an entirely different direction which made me think that I must have missed something.
This author has many novels to his credit so I may try something else down the road. For now though, I will continue to delve into the world of the classics but perhaps with authors I am more familiar with.
Well … having said that …. I did enjoy Zola’s writing sufficiently that I will give it another go… later! Maybe now….
The Death of Olivier Becaille
This short story was an interesting study of one character, being the deceased, Olivier Becaille, as told by Olivier himself. Again an unusual premise, but this story was told with much emotion and a bit of urgency.
The descriptions were interesting however the pursuit of happiness travels a most unlikely road!
This Zola creation was much more entertaining than Captain Burle, though all three of these reads were dark narratives of common interactions revealing the character and trials of relationships. Interesting but not commanding!
An afterthought :
Zola’s writing seems to dwell on the relationship between characters and each character’s emotional state. Character development is steady but his plots are very thin, almost to the point of indifference. There seems to be a great imbalance between the grand descriptive nature of the characters and their emotional relationships and that of advancing the plot. I found that this disparity detracts a great deal from the overall flow of the storytelling leaving the entire read feeling flat.
October 19, 2017
To begin with, Nana by Emile Zola is not a short story: It is a full-fledged novel in the Rougon-Macquart series, and a good one. As I have read it twice in the past, I will confine my comments to the three short tales that follow.
"The Mill-Keeper's Daughter" is a tale of the Franco-Prussian War that easily could have been expanded into a full novel, but it has charms of its own as a novella. Dominique and the Miller's daughter are due to be wed, but on the day before the ceremony, the Prussians attack. Dominique helps fight them as a civilian, and the Prussians take him and threaten to execute him.
"Captain Burle" is a tale of army life, in which the Major discovers that the Captain is stealing from the quartermaster funds and wasting it on women of low repute. The Major figures out how to get back at the Captain without having any aspersions cast on him by the Colonel.
Finally, "The Death of Olivier Becaille" is a suitable tale for Halloween. A sickly young man is accidentally buried alive but manages, somehow, to escape.
"The Mill-Keeper's Daughter" is a tale of the Franco-Prussian War that easily could have been expanded into a full novel, but it has charms of its own as a novella. Dominique and the Miller's daughter are due to be wed, but on the day before the ceremony, the Prussians attack. Dominique helps fight them as a civilian, and the Prussians take him and threaten to execute him.
"Captain Burle" is a tale of army life, in which the Major discovers that the Captain is stealing from the quartermaster funds and wasting it on women of low repute. The Major figures out how to get back at the Captain without having any aspersions cast on him by the Colonel.
Finally, "The Death of Olivier Becaille" is a suitable tale for Halloween. A sickly young man is accidentally buried alive but manages, somehow, to escape.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 4, 2013
Listened the the LibraVox version of 'The Flood' - still harrowing, an incredibly vivid recounting of a killer flood. Zola writes with such force - images and impressions remain.
August 16, 2015
It feels like this book had been ruined by "Nana", which was overly long and muddled, with uninteresting characters I didn't care much about. I only enjoyed two of the stories : The Miller's Daughter, and The Death of Oliver.
December 8, 2014
I LOVE Emile Zola--his stories are incredible!!
August 17, 2017
It should've been called "Nana and other stories" because almost all the book is the Nana story. And about Nana: It's quite a contemporary book, now in this feminist society. I'd love it if Zola would've talked a little bit more about how a woman "like that", a courtesan risen up from the slums fits in that society. Yes, she destroyed every man who passed her way and lived in a expensive way, but it could be used to give more a commentary on feminism or how she was awful or cool or something. She died filled with warts all over her so that's kind of a commentary but that's it.
Even like that... I felt so connected with her. The lack of love in every sexual transaction, the only time she loved turned out into a destructive relationship and she renounced love and that's when she started to look for money really. She despised the count but still looked for him because she needed his money.
Also, there's a part where she imagined she was called Therese and her birthday was a few days later than mine and so yeah, i felt so connected with her.
I really liked it.
Even like that... I felt so connected with her. The lack of love in every sexual transaction, the only time she loved turned out into a destructive relationship and she renounced love and that's when she started to look for money really. She despised the count but still looked for him because she needed his money.
Also, there's a part where she imagined she was called Therese and her birthday was a few days later than mine and so yeah, i felt so connected with her.
I really liked it.
June 29, 2020
Contains the complete 1880 novel NANA and three other stories
This collection is a bit mis-titled, thus my headline. If Zola's writing still has the power to shock readers in 2020, it's not difficult to understand why his work was so scandalous during his lifetime. Here is French Naturalism at its most representative: clinically precise, dispassionate, and so immensely readable.
This collection is a bit mis-titled, thus my headline. If Zola's writing still has the power to shock readers in 2020, it's not difficult to understand why his work was so scandalous during his lifetime. Here is French Naturalism at its most representative: clinically precise, dispassionate, and so immensely readable.
May 11, 2018
Nana's story was boring. i had a hard time reading it. The other stories were good, especially The Death of Olivier Becaille.
May 17, 2019
Short stories. Liked some stories more than others. 2.5☆
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January 4, 2022Aeschy
November 14, 2025
burdaki hikayeleri okudum karşıma çıktı, yıllık hedef için biraz hile yapmış olabilirim ahahahahahah
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 18, 2016
I loved some of his short stories I've read and I'm really pissed that Goodreads doesn't have the edition I've read them in, as much as I'm frustrated because it doesn't hsve some of the italian books I've read over this four month.
Anyway I absolutely want to read more of his work.
Anyway I absolutely want to read more of his work.
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December 25, 2012Another cheerful book from Zola.
February 27, 2022
The Flood--3
The Miller's Daughter (aka The Attack on the Mill)--3
Captain Burle--3
The Death of Olivier Becaille--3
The Miller's Daughter (aka The Attack on the Mill)--3
Captain Burle--3
The Death of Olivier Becaille--3
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews