In "The Fortune of the Rougons," Émile Zola embarks on an audacious exploration of family dynamics, social ambition, and the interplay of heritage and destiny within the backdrop of the Second Empire in France. This seminal work, the first in Zola's expansive Rougon-Macquart series, employs a naturalistic literary style that meticulously crafts character studies grounded in socio-economic realism...