Beyond that purely aesthetic aspect, I discussed Zola's autobiography which is all about the criticism of the author. That led me to specify the strengths and weaknesses of the man, a prodigiously talented writer despite the controversies surrounding him in his day. Ideologically, Zola was a natalist and a republican who loved justice. All his journalistic and literary production can be summed up in a single word: struggle. He was a wrestler obsessed with the denunciation of the privileges of the elite of the Imperial society and of the various injustices the people suffered from. His tireless struggle against these two unbearable scourges had the sole purpose of putting an end to them altogether so that progress and social welfare would benefit all of his fellow citizens.