Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (2 April 1840 - 29 September 1902) was a French novelist, playwright, journalist.More than half of Zola's novels were part of a set of 20 collectively known as Les Rougon-Macquart. Unlike Balzac, who in the midst of his literary career resynthesized his work into La Comédie Humaine, Zola from the start, at the age of 28, had thought of the complete layout of the series. Set in France's Second Empire, the series traces the "environmental" influences of violence, alcohol, and prostitution which became more prevalent during the second wave of the Industrial Revolution. The series examines two branches of a family-the respectable (that is, legitimate) Rougons and the disreputable (illegitimate) Macquarts-for five generations.