LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Emile Zola: Mother
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In 1858 Zola and his mother moved to Paris, where he completed his rather sketchy education. He never succeeded in passing his baccalauréat examinations. For a few years after leaving school, he led a life of poverty verging on destitution. Finally, in 1862, he was given a job in the publishing firm of Hachette, which he kept for 4 years. Here he learned much about the business and promotional sides of publishing and met several distinguished writers, among them the philosopher and literary historian Hippolyte Taine, whose ideas strongly influenced the development of Zola's thought. It was one of Taine's sayings ("Vice and virtue are chemical products like vitriol and sugar") that Zola took as the epigraph of his early novel Thére‧se Raquin (1867).
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It is absolutely NOT necessary to read the series in the order Zola wrote it! In fact, that would be a mistake! While all the novels are well worth reading, some are, inevitably, better than others. The best way to get started is to read one that is exciting (L'Assomoir, Germinal, La bête humaine) or sexy (Pot-bouille) or one that deals with one of your own interests (La bonheur des dames - a department store, La bête humaine - trains) and then browse among the rest as the fancy takes you. The plot of each is self-contained, and while there is some interest in knowing who was the mother or father of the main character, the novels are psychologically complete in themselves as well. If you can't get far with a particularly dense one, such as L'Oeuvre, leave it for the time being and try another rather than plodding on resentfully.
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In 1858 Zola and his mother moved to Paris, where he completed his rather sketchy education. For a few years after leaving school, he led a life of poverty verging on destitution.
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