Emile Zola

THE SLEEP By EMILE ZOLA -1877-: English translation by HIZIR Nachida Emile Zola

A novel by Émile Zola published in serial form in 1876 in Le Bien public, then in La République des Lettres, before its release in book form in 1877 by the publisher Georges Charpentier. This is the seventh volume in the Les Rougon-Macquart series. The work is totally devoted to the working world and, according to Zola, it is "the first novel about the people, which does not lie and which has the smell of the people". The writer restores the language and customs of the workers, while describing the ravages caused by poverty and alcoholism. When it was published, the book aroused lively controversy because it was considered too raw. But it is this naturalism which, however, causes its success, ensuring the author fortune and fame.