Emile Zola in general

Of the foreign authors I have read, I would recommend Emile Zola as one of the more accessible. Above all, his novels are generally a cracking read. In the opinion of many he falls short of the sophistication of a Flaubert or Stendhal, but to others his novels are far more gripping as a result. Zola wrote at the end of the nineteenth century, and took it upon himself to beat the drum for literary naturalism - a contradictory notion that he never fully resolved. His basic aim was to show a 'slice of life with no frills attached'. In reality this manaifests itself in some gruesome descriptions of corpses, poverty and violence in hufe epic tales. ...  Read the complete review

This french author is without doubt the champion of literary naturalism. Writing towards the end on the 19th century. Zola influenced by Balzac attempted to use interconnecting novels to portray french society between 1852 and 1870, the so called Second Empire. Zola’s epic cycle of books containing over 22 novels, coherently explores the relationships between two branches of the same family : the Rougon’s and the Macquarts. Zola created his family encompassing a broad range of social types: on the one hand a legitimate branch with an inherited social advantages of education and wealth , the other illegitimate social outcasts. Within the first branch , ...  Read the complete review