J'Accuse

Émile Zola (1840-1902) is the author of the now-famous open letter J’Accuse…!, which appeared on the front page of the newspaper L’Aurore on January 13, 1898. Zola addressed the letter to Felix Faure, the President of France, in response to the Dreyfus Affair: a miscarriage of justice in which a Jewish army officer, Alfred Dreyfus, was wrongfully accused and convicted of espionage and treason.

Zola was born in Paris to an Italian father and a French mother. Zola’s father was a respected civil engineer and the family was part of the professional middle class in society. Zola’s father died when Zola was seven, however, leaving them in financial difficulty. The family moved to Paris and Zola began to write in the Romantic style as a young man. He was part of a liberal and artistic set in Paris, many of whom would reach acclaim, including the artists Paul Cezanne and Paul Alexis. He attempted to pursue a law career but failed the exam necessary to progress from secondary school, instead taking work as a publishing house clerk to keep the family financially afloat. Zola kept writing in his free time, and eventually was able to find frequent work as a freelance journalist, often covering politics and reviews on various artistic and literary subjects.