Most of the illustrations accompanying my text are from photographs, several of them taken specially for this book; but I have to express my acknowledgments to the proprietors of the Illustrated London News for their kind permission to reproduce various views of the rooms in which much of Zola's life was spent.

E. A. V.

"MERTON, SURREY
March, 1904

[CONTENTS]

[I]INTRODUCTORY—THE ZOLA FAMILY—BIRTH OF ÉMILE ZOLA 1
[II]EARLY YEARS: 1840-1860 24
[III]BOHEMIA—DRUDGERY—FIRST BOOKS: 1860-1866 53
[IV]IN THE FURNACE OF PARIS: 1866-1868 80
[V]THE FIRST "ROUGON-MACQUARTS": 1868-1872109
[VI]THE PATH OF SUCCESS 1872-1877140
[VII]THE ADVANCE OF NATURALISM: 1877-1881166
[VIII]THE BATTLE CONTINUED: 1881-1887206
[IX]THE BRITISH PHARISEES: 1884-1893242
[X]THE LAST "ROUGON-MACQUARTS"—THE FRENCH ACADEMY—A VISIT TO LONDON: 1888-1893300
[XI]A CRITICAL GLANCE: 1893342
[XII]THE MAN—HIS LIFE DRAMA—A NEW DEPARTURE 1893-1897390
[XIII]THE DREYFUS CASE: 1894-1900419
[XIV]LAST YEARS—DEATH: 1901-1902493
[XV]CONCLUSION—THE INFLUENCE AND SURVIVAL OF ZOLA'S WORKS527

APPENDIX

[A].—Declaration of Zola's birth

[B].—Declaration of his death