Claude's Confession and Other Early Novels of Émile Zola

La Confession de Claude (Claude's Confession) was Emile Zola's first novel and his first attempt at what he would later call an «Experimental Novel». Published in Paris in 1865, it was quickly banned in the United States and Great Britain and was not translated into English for several decades. The Dead Woman's Wish The Dead Woman's Wish was first published in 1902. It tells the story of a young orphan Daniel, sponsored by Madame de Rionne who is on her death bed. The Mystery of Marseille A novel Les Mystères de Marseille appeared as a serialized story in 1867. «The Mysteries Marseille» recounts the love of Philippe Cayol, poor, untitled, republican, and of young Blanche de Cazalis, the niece of De Cazalis, a millionaire, politician and all-powerful in Marseille. Philippe's brother, Marius, devotes himself to protecting the two lovers – and the child Blanche gave birth to before entering a convent – from the anger of De Cazalis. Thérèse Raquin Thérèse Raquin is the title of a novel first published in 1867 and a play first performed in 1873. It tells the story of a young woman Thérèse and her lover, Laurent, murder her husband, Camille, but are pursued by guilt in the form of vivid hallucinations. One particularly intense passage describes Laurent's visits to the morgue in search of Camille's corpse. Madeleine Férat Madeleine Férat introduced what was to become one of Zola's central preoccupations, the question of heredity. Contents: Claude's Confession The Dead Woman's Wish The Mystery Of Marseille Therese Raquin Madeleine Ferat Émile Zola (1840–1902) was a French novelist, playwright, journalist, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism.