French novelist ?mile Zola, noted for his championship of the Naturalist novel, has been one of the most adapted authors in world literature. There have been approximately 80 film adaptations of his late 19th century novels and short stories, many of which occurred during the silent era of international film production (1895?1927). While the aesthetic elements of Zola's fiction continue to appeal to international cinema, the author's thematic naturalism and his ?scientific methodology? have provided an ideological framework that incorporates art, science and history into the many cinematic...