Fruitfulness (1899) is a novel by French author Émile Zola. Published as the first installment of his Les Quatre Évangiles, a series of four novels inspired by the New Testament gospels and aimed at investigating prominent social issues, Fruitfulness was written while Zola was living in exile in England following his advocacy on behalf of Alfred Dreyfus, a French Jew falsely convicted of spying. An inspired secularist and socialist, Zola foresaw his final literary project as an essential step forward in human consciousness and societal evolution, a vision tragically cut short by his death only several years later. In nineteenth-century France, following the collapse of the Second Empire, widespread economic instability has led to a dangerously low birthrate. Forced to make impossible decisions for the lives of their families, people have given up raising more than one or two children, leading to a strain on the workforce and creating a society without the joys of youth. Against all odds, and despite the harsh judgment of their peers, Mathieu and Marianne Froment attempt to raise a family of twelve children. Grounded in love and solidarity, the Froment family becomes a symbol of perseverance and a model for their beleaguered community. This edition of Émile Zola’s Fruitfulness is a classic work of French literature reimagined for modern readers.
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About the author
Émile Zola (1840-1902) was a French novelist, journalist, and playwright. Born in Paris to a French mother and Italian father, Zola was raised in Aix-en-Provence. At 18, Zola moved back to Paris, where he befriended Paul Cézanne and began his writing career. During this early period, Zola worked as a clerk for a publisher while writing literary and art reviews as well as political journalism for local newspapers. Following the success of his novel Thérèse Raquin (1867), Zola began a series of twenty novels known as Les Rougon-Macquart, a sprawling collection following the fates of a single family living under the Second Empire of Napoleon III. Zola’s work earned him a reputation as a leading figure in literary naturalism, a style noted for its rejection of Romanticism in favor of detachment, rationalism, and social commentary. Following the infamous Dreyfus affair of 1894, in which a French-Jewish artillery officer was falsely convicted of spying for the German Embassy, Zola wrote a scathing open letter to French President Félix Faure accusing the government and military of antisemitism and obstruction of justice. Having sacrificed his reputation as a writer and intellectual, Zola helped reverse public opinion on the affair, placing pressure on the government that led to Dreyfus’ full exoneration in 1906. Nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901 and 1902, Zola is considered one of the most influential and talented writers in French history.
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