Set in a Parisian apartment building, this tenth novel in the Rougon Macquart series by Émile Zola follows the greedy, dishonest, and unpleasant elements lurking behind the building's new façade. The novel is an indictment of the hypocritical mores of the bourgeoisie of the Second French Empire.
Émile Zola (2 April 1840 – 29 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism.
During his early years, Zola wrote numerous short stories and essays, four plays, and three novels. Among his early books was Contes à Ninon, published in 1864. Publication of his sordid autobiographical novel La Confession de Claude (1865) attracted police attention. His novel Les Mystères de Marseille appeared as a serial in 1867. He was also an aggressive critic, his articles on literature and art appearing in Villemessant's journal L'Événement. After his first major novel, Thérèse Raquin (1867), Zola started the series called Les Rougon-Macquart.
He was a major figure in the political liberalization of France and in the exoneration of the falsely accused and convicted army officer Alfred Dreyfus, which is encapsulated in his renowned newspaper opinion headlined J'Accuse…!
Zola was nominated for the first and second Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901 and 1902.
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