Nana

Written by Emile Zola

Narrated by Aria Wilson

"Nana" by Émile Zola is a novel that explores the decadence and moral decay of Parisian society in the 19th century. It follows the life of Nana, a beautiful and ambitious young woman, as she navigates the social and economic challenges of her time. The novel provides a vivid portrayal of the excesses and corruption of the Second Empire, using Nana as a symbol of the destructive influence of unchecked desire and hedonism.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Loudly
• Release date: Dec 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9798868646409

Emile Zola

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.