Zola: A Life
by Frederick Brown
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Book Summary Information
Author: Frederick BrownEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1995-05
ISBN: 0374297428
Number of pages: 888
Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux (T)
Book Reviews of Zola: A Life
Book Review: A biography worthy of its subject
Summary: 5 Stars
This very full and long biography does an exemplary job of placing Zola's life, career and views within the context of his times. The reader comes to understand his life as he lived it, surrounded by friends, opponents, obstacles,
and challenges, both personal and societal. Reading this biography helps the reader to share a lived experience of one of France's most interesting periods of history. In addition, Brown gives a complete account of the historical
and biographical sources of Zola's fiction, though the literary traditions upon which he drew, and by which he was shaped, receive less notice. But this is a minor complaint. His discussions of Zola's friendships, especially with
Paul Cezanne, are very even-handed and persuasively argued. This is not a biography that lionizes its subject, freeing him of human faults and limitations; it does not patronize Zola either, but fully presents the significance of
his achievements. The discussions of Zola's upbringing in Provence, his struggles to make his way in Paris, his rise to success and fame, and Brown's analysis of the Dreyfus Affair, are highlights in a book that never disappoints.
Brown writes clearly, with energy and a keen eye for anecdotes and details that bring the story to life. Nonetheless, it takes energy to make one's way through a biography of this size, but the rewards are considerable, and the subject interestingly complex. Zola is one of the figures - both admired and scorned - who dominated his period in France, and this biography makes clear how and why.
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