Zola, Travail and Verite

I finished the last two books in Zola's series, and it was a hard slog even compared to his previous books. The last three books were written when Zola was in England after losing his case about the Dreyfus affair, and he must have written these books to make money. They are lifeless. Travail should have been called Infidelity, since it is not about work but about people not keeping faith with each other. For his valedictory, Zola chose in Verite to retell his version of the Dreyfus case, by telling the story of a Jew falsely accused of sexually assaulting and murdering a little boy. The Church stands in for the army and government establishment, and there is also the issue of intermarriage. The novel isn't any more lively, but it is interesting to see how Zola sums up the whole legal and controversial experience. It was no pleasure.