Émile Zola is widely regarded as one of the world's greatest writers, whose reputation was reinforced by his historic intervention in the Dreyfus Affair.

This book explores Zola's life and work and the ways in which these were determined by the traumatic history of his times. From humble beginnings, Zola's life was marked by the determination to succeed. Robert Lethbridge traces his development as a writer, including Zola's earliest texts and his novel-cycles, and further shows how Zola's extraordinary creativity extended from his journalism to experiments in the theatre and even his own operatic adaptations of his novels. Lethbridge offers the reader new perspectives, informed by the most recent research, which bring together Zola's writing and its historical context.

'Weaving together private and public lives, the act of writing and the works themselves, generations of scholarship, and a compelling narrative, Lethbridge brings his own great erudition and storytelling to this account of the life (and death) of Émile Zola. This is an engaging and brilliant new biography.' – Sonya Stephens, president, American University of Paris

'Lethbridge’s evocative, deeply felt biography is a tour de force of the biographical genre and a consummate study of the entanglements of Zola’s extraordinary life and his work. Through his nuanced plotting of the autobiographical, contextual, literary, and political determinants of his complex, often conflicted subject, Lethbridge illuminates the life trajectory of this iconic figure.' – Susan Harrow, Ashley Watkins Chair of French, University of Bristol