Émile Zola (1840-1902) remains today one of the world’s most widely-recognized  and widely-read novelists. Journalist, playwright and composer of libretti, he is best known for his major novel series : Les Rougon-Macquart, Les Trois Villes and Les Quatre Évangiles. Zola is equally celebrated for his involvement in the Dreyfus Affair, a social and political scandal which rocked France to its foundations and which may have lead to Zola’s premature death.