19 h 42 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What does a writer risk when he puts his name behind a public cause?
In Émile Zola, Novelist and Reformer, Ernest Alfred Vizetelly follows Zola from a poor childhood in Provence to the crowded literary world of Paris. Cold rooms, hunger and evenings spent writing poems and sketches give way to an ambitious plan: Les Rougon-Macquart, a cycle of novels tracing one family through the Second Empire. Alongside the books come quarrels over what Zola writes.
Vizetelly knows his subject as both translator and acquaintance. His own family's publishing house pays a heavy price for bringing Zola to English readers. He seeks to look beyond the novelist's bad reputation and show a patient worker at his desk. The biography also follows Zola's stand for Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a condemned army officer, and the personal cost of that public cause.
What you’ll discover
- From hunger to ambition Follow the young writer through hardship toward a place in the literary world of Paris.
- One family's story Explore the bold plan behind Les Rougon-Macquart and its portrait of a family.
- The patient daily worker Meet the man at his desk, beyond the scandals attached to his name.
- A translator's personal stake See why Zola's English reception matters so deeply to Vizetelly and his family.
- The cost of taking sides Trace Zola's commitment to Dreyfus and the risks that follow his public stand.
Who will love it
For readers who want to understand Zola before or after reading his novels, and for anyone drawn to writers who took risks for a public cause.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A poor boyhood shapes a writer
- Hunger and journalism before fame
- Twenty novels about one family
- The English price of translating Zola
- The man at his desk
- Dreyfus, exile and what Zola left
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Émile Zola, Romancier und Reformator
by Ernest Alfred Vizetelly · 1904
Zola turns his pen from twenty linked novels to the defense of a condemned army officer, risking his public life.
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In short
This is a life of the French novelist Émile Zola, written by Ernest Alfred Vizetelly and published in 1904, two years after Zola died. Vizetelly was no distant scholar.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A poor boyhood shapes a writer
Zola was born in Paris in 1840, but he grew up in Aix-en-Provence. His father, Francesco Zola, was an engineer of Italian origin who planned a canal to bring water to the town. The work was still unfinished when he died in 1847, and the family was left short of money.
Vizetelly shows how that loss marked the boy. His mother, Émilie, struggled to keep the household going, and lawsuits over the canal company dragged on without bringing relief. Young Émile went to school in Aix, where he was a good pupil in several subjects. There he formed the friendship that mattered most in his youth, with the future painter Paul Cézanne.
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What is Émile Zola, Novelist and Reformer about?
It is a biography of the French novelist Émile Zola. It follows his poor youth, his rise as a writer, his cycle of Rougon-Macquart novels and his part in defending Alfred Dreyfus, with attention to his working habits.
Who was Ernest Vizetelly and why did he write about Zola?
Vizetelly was Zola's English translator and the son of Henry Vizetelly, a publisher prosecuted in London for issuing Zola's novels. He knew Zola personally and wanted English readers to understand him fairly.
What does J'accuse mean?
It is French for I accuse. Zola used it as the heading of his open letter of January 1898 in L'Aurore, which accused army officers of condemning the innocent Captain Dreyfus and hiding the truth.
The author
Ernest Alfred Vizetelly
1853–1922 · English writer and translator
Ernest Alfred Vizetelly (1853–1922) was an English writer, journalist and translator. He was born in London and lived in England and France. He translated novels by Émile Zola into English. His own books included Émile Zola, Novelist and Reformer, published in 1904, and accounts of French history.
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