Emile Zola - Collected Works (49 books)

* Emile Zola - Collected Works (49 books)

ÉMILE ZOLA (1840–1902) is one of the central figures of nineteenth-century French literature and the leading theorist and practitioner of literary naturalism. Zola believed that the novel should function as a scientific investigation of society, shaped by heredity, environment, and social forces, and sought to expose the mechanisms of poverty, vice, labor, and power with uncompromising honesty. His work combines social critique with a strong moral and political engagement, most notably in his public defense of the falsely accused and convicted army officer Alfred Dreyfus.

Zola’s major literary achievement is the ROUGON-MACQUART series, a cycle of twenty novels published between 1871 and 1893. A panoramic account of the Second French Empire, the series examines two branches of the family—the respectable Rougons and the disreputable Macquarts—over five generations, tracing the environmental and hereditary influences of violence, alcohol, and prostitution which became more prevalent during the second wave of the Industrial Revolution.

Several novels from the cycle stand out as major works. L’ASSOMMOIR (1877) depicts the devastating effects of alcoholism and poverty on the working class in Paris, while NANA (1880) explores sexuality, hypocrisy, and moral decay through the rise of a courtesan in high society. In GERMINAL (1885), often considered Zola’s masterpiece, he presents a powerful and sympathetic portrayal of coal miners, focusing on class struggle, exploitation, and collective revolt. Other important novels include THE KILL (1872), which exposes financial speculation under Haussmannization, and THE BELLY OF PARIS (1873), a study of abundance, exclusion, and political tension set in the central markets of Paris.

Zola’s non-fiction writings are central to understanding his political engagement and literary theory. Most famously, his intervention in the Dreyfus Affair culminated in the open letter “J’Accuse…!” (1898), in which Zola denounced antisemitism, judicial corruption, and the miscarriage of justice surrounding the wrongful conviction of Captain Alfred Dreyfus. Alongside such polemical journalism, Zola articulated his aesthetic principles in essays such as THE EXPERIMENTAL NOVEL (1880), where he argued that fiction should adopt the methods of modern science, observing and testing human behavior under the pressures of heredity and environment.

Across these works, Zola combines documentary realism with a powerful narrative drive, using the novel as a tool for social diagnosis and reform. His influence on later writers, journalists, and political thinkers was immense, and his commitment to truth—both literary and civic—secured his place as one of the most important novelists of modern Europe.


The following books are in ePUB format unless otherwise noted:

== NOVELS ==

* A Love Story [tr. Constantine] (Oxford, 2017)
* The Assommoir [tr. Nelson] (Oxford, 2021)
* Au Bonheur des Dames [tr. Buss] (Penguin, 2001)
* The Beast Within [tr. Whitehouse] (Penguin, 2007)
* The Belly of Paris [tr. Kurlansky] (Modern Library, 2009)
* The Belly of Paris [tr. Nelson] (Oxford, 2007) – ePUB / PDF
* The Bright Side of Life [tr. Rothwell] (Oxford, 2018)
* The Conquest of Plassans [tr. Constantine] (Oxford, 2014)
* The Debacle [tr. Tancock] (Penguin, 1972)
* Doctor Pascal [tr. Rose] (Oxford, 2020) – ePUB / PDF
* The Dream [tr. Gibbard] (Oxford, 2018)
* The Dream [tr. Glencross] (Peter Owen, 2014)
* The Drinking Den [tr. Buss] (Penguin, 2003)
* The Earth [tr. Parmée] (Penguin, 2009)
* Earth [tr. Nelson & Rose] (Oxford, 2016)
* The Fortune of the Rougons [tr. Nelson] (Oxford, 2012)
* Germinal [tr. Collier] (Oxford, 1998)
* Germinal [tr. Ellis] (Barnes & Noble, 2005)
* Germinal [tr. Pearson] (Penguin, 2004)
* His Excellency Eugène Rougon [tr. Nelson] (Oxford, 2018)
* In Secret [tr. Vizetelly] (Penguin, 2014)
* The Kill (La Curée) [tr. Nelson] (Oxford, 2004)
* The Kill (La Curée) [tr. Nelson] (Oxford, 2004).pdf
* The Kill [tr. Goldhammer] (Modern Library, 2005)
* The Ladies' Paradise [tr. Fitzlyon] (Alma Classics, 2013)
* The Ladies' Paradise [tr. Nelson] (Oxford, 1995)
* The Ladies' Paradise [tr. Vizetelly] (Barnes & Noble, 2006)
* L'Assommoir [tr. Mauldon] (Oxford, 2009)
* La Bête Humaine [tr. Pearson] (Oxford, 1996)
* La Débâcle [tr. Dorday] (Oxford, 2017)
* The Masterpiece [tr. Pearson] (Oxford, 2006)
* The Masterpiece [tr. Vizetelly] (Barnes & Noble, 2006)
* Money [tr. Minogue] (Oxford, 2014)
* Nana [tr. Constantine] (Oxford, 2020)
* Nana [tr. Constantine] (Oxford, 2020).pdf
* Nana [tr. Holden] (Penguin, 1972)
* Nana [tr. Parmée] (Oxford, 2009)
* Nana [tr. Rascoe] (Barnes & Noble, 2006)
* The Paradise [tr. Vizetelly] (Penguin, 2013)
* Pot Luck (Pot-Bouille) [tr. Nelson] (Oxford, 2009)
* The Sin of Abbé Mouret [tr. Minogue] (Oxford, 2017)
* The Sin of Father Mouret [tr. Petrey] (Nebraska, 1969) – PDF
* Thérèse Raquin [tr. Rothwell] (Oxford, 1992)
* Thérèse Raquin [tr. Thorpe] (Vintage UK, 2013)

== SHORT FICTION ==

* Attack on the Mill & Other Stories [tr. Parmée] (Alma Classics, 2017) – PDF
* The Flood [tr. Cummins] (Hesperus, 2013)
* For a Night of Love [tr. Brown] (Hesperus, 2013)

== NON-FICTION ==

* The Dreyfus Affair: J'accuse and Other Writings [ed. Pagès] (Yale, 1996) – PDF
* The Experimental Novel & Other Essays [tr. Sherman] (Haskell House, 1964) – PDF
* Notes from Exile [ed. Speirs & Portebois] (Toronto, 2003) – PDF

== ANTHOLOGY ==

* Complete Works (Delphi Classics, 2012)


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