Émile Zola was a French novelist, journalist, and the foremost figure of the literary school of naturalism. Born in Paris, he worked at a publishing house before turning to full-time writing. Zola believed literature should portray life scientifically, showing how heredity, environment, and social conditions shape human destiny.
His monumental achievement is the twenty-novel series Les Rougon-Macquart (1871–1893), which follows a family during the Second French Empire. Highlights include L'Assommoir (1877), a grim portrait of working-class alcoholism; Nana (1880), tracing a courtesan's rise and ruin; Germinal (1885), an epic of coal miners' struggle and solidarity; and La Terre (1887), depicting brutal peasant life. His earlier novel Thérèse Raquin (1867) established his naturalist methods.
Beyond fiction, Zola became a moral voice of his era through his famous open letter "J'accuse...!" (1898), defending Alfred Dreyfus during a scandal that divided France. Prosecuted for libel, he fled to England before returning to Paris. He died in 1902, suffocated by carbon monoxide in suspicious circumstances.
Zola's blend of rigorous observation, social criticism, and dramatic storytelling profoundly influenced modern literature and secured his reputation as one of France's greatest novelists.