The Beast Within - Emile Zola [1]
eISBN : 978-1-101-16061-9
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Chronology
1840 (2 April) Émile Zola born in Paris, the only son of an Italian engineer, Francesco Zola (b. 1795) and of Françoise-Emilie Auber (b. 1819).
1843 The family moves to Aix-en-Provence, which becomes the town of ‘Plassans’ in the Rougon-Macquart novels. Plassans is the birthplace of Jacques Lantier.
1847 (27 March) Francesco Zola dies from pneumonia caught while supervising a project to supply Aix-en-Provence with drinking water. The family is left almost destitute.
1848 The July monarchy (King Louis-Philippe) is overthrown, and the Second Republic is declared.
1851 The Republic is dissolved after the coup d‘état of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte.
1852 (2 December) Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte proclaimed Emperor as Napoleon III. Start of the Second Empire, the period in which the Rougon-Macquart novels are set. Zola is enrolled as a boarder at the College Bourbon in Aix, where he forms a friendship with Paul Cézanne.
1853 (June) Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann is appointed Prefect of the Seine and begins major rebuilding of central Paris (this is mentioned in La Bête humaine).
1858 (February) Leaves Aix to join his mother in Paris. Attends the Lycée Saint-Louis.
1859 Falls ill with typhoid and twice fails the baccalauréat.
1860 A period of great hardship. Attempts to make a living from writing. (6 December) Victor Poinsot murdered on a train travelling from Troyes to Paris.
1862 (I March) Zola starts working for the publisher Hachette. Initially employed in the dispatch office, he is quickly appointed as head of publicity. (31 October) Becomes a naturalized French citizen.
1863 First newspaper article published.
1864 Publication of his first literary work, Contes à Ninon, a collection of short stories.
1865 Publishes first novel, La Confession de Claude. Meets his future wife, Gabrielle-Alexandrine Meley (b. 1839). They do not marry until 1870.
1866 Resigns his position at Hachette. From this point Zola lives by his writing. Writes articles for L‘Événement, praising the work of Manet and Monet. Frequents the Café Guerbois in the Batignolles district of Paris, the rendezvous of the Impressionist painters. (November) L’Événement suppressed.
1867 Publication of Thérèse Raquin.
1868 (April) In the preface to the second edition of Thérèse Raquin, Zola announces his allegiance to the literary school of ‘Naturalism’. (December) Publication of Madeleine Férat. Begins to plan the Rougon-Macquart cycle of novels. Signs contract for the work with the publisher Lacroix. Continues to work as journalist for various newspapers.
1869 (May) Elections for Legislative Assembly. Civil disturbances in Paris. The action of La Bête humaine takes place between mid-February 1869 and July 1870.
1870 (8 May) Plebiscite on new constitution. (3 I May) Marries Alexandrine. (19 July) France declares war on Prussia. (September) Napoleon III surrenders to Prussia at Sedan. The Third Republic is declared. Zola moves temporarily to Marseille. Paris is besieged by the Prussian army. Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie go into exile in England. La Fortune des Rougon, the first of the Rougon-Macquart novels, begins to appear in serial form.
1871 (28 January) Armistice with Prussia. (March) Zola returns to Paris. (28 March) Election of the Commune. (28 May) End of the Commune. Publication in book form of La Fortune des Rougon.
1872 (January) Publication of La Curée.
1873 (April) Publication of Le Ventre de Paris, set in and around the central Paris market, Les Halles.
1874 (May) Publication of La Conquête de Plassans.
1875 (April) Publication of La Faute de l‘Abbé Mouret. 1876 (February) Publication of Son Excellence Eugène Rougon. The novel describes the career of a Minister of State under the Second Empire. Later in the year L’Assommoir appears in serialized form, firstly in Le Bien public, and subsequently in La République des Lettres (Le Bien public having refused to continue publication). The novel gives a sombre account of the effects of drink on the