DISAPPEARANCE OF EMILE ZOLA

The Professor of Children's Literature broadcast his programme Zola In Norwood on BBC Radio 3 in 2015. He tells the incredible story of Zola's escape to London in the aftermath of the scandalous Dreyfus affair. It was on the evening of July 15th 1898 when the world renowned novelist was on the run. His crime? Taking on the highest powers in the land with his open letter 'J'accuse', and losing. Forced to leave Paris with nothing but the clothes he was standing in, and a nightshirt wrapped in newspaper, Rosen has traced Zola's footsteps for the Gare du Nord to London, examining the significance of this year. Rosen brings to life the brilliant, fiercely honest novelist and courageous opponent of anti-Semitism and his dilemma, naturalism or impressionism. His letters and works from the period demonstrate his reckoning with the politics and literature that remain swirling in his mind. The work further reveals the divisiveness of French society, exacerbated by the Alfred Dreyfus affair. Told with great charm and candour. 302pp, illus.