Émile Zola wrote French naturalist fiction about class, work, sexuality, poverty and the forces of heredity and environment on human behaviour. His Rougon-Macquart cycle follows branches of one family across the Second Empire, using each novel to examine a different social world. Germinal centres on coal miners and a strike in northern France, while L'Assommoir follows working-class life, alcoholism and economic insecurity in Paris. Nana moves through theatre, sexuality and elite society, and The Ladies' Paradise examines the rise of the modern department store through commerce, consumption and labour. Zola's novels are detailed, social and often harsh, with institutions and material conditions shaping individual lives. Germinal is the strongest entry for readers of labour and industrial fiction, while The Ladies' Paradise offers a more accessible route into his treatment of modern commerce and urban change. Read more Less
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