Émile Zola

Émile Zola

Émile François Zola was a French writer born on the 2nd of April 1840, in Paris. His father, originally Francesco Zolla, later François Zola, was an Italien engineer, and his mother was Émilie Aurélie Aubert. The family moved to Aix-en-Provence, in the southeast of France, when Émile was three. In 1847, Émile's father died, and the family continued to live in Aix-en-Provence until 1858, when they returned to Paris. From there he worked as a clerk in a shipping firm, and then in the sales department of the publisher Hachette. He began writing from early on, writing short stories and plays. His first major novel was Thérèse Raquin, published in 1867. After this novel, Zola started a series of twenty books, entitled Les Rougon-Macquart. This series comprises more than half of his published works and it examines two branches of a single family: the respectable Rougons and the disreputable Macquarts, for five generations during the Second Empire. From the age of 28, he already had the story and series planned out. In 1877, with the publication of l'Assommoir, he became rich, so much so that he was better paid than Victor Hugo. In 1897, he was established as a successful author.
Zola is as much known for his novels as he is for his participation in the Dreyfus Affair. The Dreyfus Affair is a series of events which spanned on from the 1890s until the early 1900s. They separated France and brought it to the brink of civil war.
French military had found information about a mole giving the German embassy military secrets. Captain Alfred Dreyfus was immediately suspected, though there was no direct evidence other than the fact that he was Jewish, and the mole's signature consisted of the initial D. Dreyfus was court-martialled, convicted of treason and sent to Devil's Island in French Guiana.

Alfred Dreyfus

Two years later, Lt. Col. Georges Picquart came across evidence that implicated another officer, Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy. After informing his superiors, the decision to protect Esterhazy was made and it was ensured that the original verdict was not overturned. Major Hubert-Joseph Henry forged documents that made it seem that Dreyfus was guilty and then had Picquart assigned duty in Africa. Esterhazy was tried and acquitted but before leaving, Picquart told some of Dreyfus's supporters what he knew, some of whom informed Zola. It was at this point that Zola wrote a famous open letter entitled J'accuse (I acuse) to the president concerning the Dreyfus Affair. In this letter he ranted about the mistreatment Dreyfus had received, and exclaimed he was judged illegally and convicted because of a secret document which was not shown to Dreyfus' lawyer. He named people responsible for the illegal trial and because of this started his own trial.

Alexandrine Zola

He was charged for criminal libel on 7 February 1898, and was convicted on 23 February. He was sentenced and removed from the Legion of Honor but rather than go to jail, Zola fled to England. He lived unhappily until he was finally allowed to return to Paris. In an effort to calm the political situation, the government offered Alfred Dreyfus a pardon, letting him go free while at the same time making him confess indirectly should he accept a pardon. Dreyfus accepted regardless of the extensive circumstantial evidence proving his innocence.
Émile Zola died on the 29th of September 1902, of carbon monoxide poisoning. Decades later, a chimney worker confessed to have closed the chimney to induce his death for political reasons.
Zola had married Gabrielle Alexandrine in 1870, though not much can be found on Alexandrine. During his marriage, he took up a mistress, Jeanne Rozerot, the couple's former maid. It seems that this relationship was discovered in 1891 by Alexandrine.

Zola, Jeanne, Denise et Jacques

She was furious, as to be expected, though they did not divorce. It did not ease Alexandrine either to know that Zola had two children with Jeanne who was thirty years Zola's junior, children which she herself could not give. Even though Alexandrine demanded he stop seeing Jeanne, Zola continued to lead his double life. Zola had a daughter and a son, Denise and Jacques. After Zola's death, Jeanne and the children followed the funerals as strangers, but when Zola was relocated to the Pantheon, Alexandrine and Jeanne assisted his relocation, the two united by the same love they shared for Émile. Alexandrine also recognised his children, and they were able to wear his name by 1906, the same year Dreyfus was fully exonerated by the Supreme Court. Jeanne died in 1914, and Alexandrine in 1925.

References: Émile Zola, ou la conscience humaine

Émile Zola

Alexandrine Zola

Jeanne Rozerot

Émile Zola Biography

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