The average man pictures Zola as a writer of brutal novels, the patron-saint of all novelists labelled by present-day critics as naturalistic, vigorous, earthy, bestial, or disgusting. This much is obvious: any reader who scans the Rougon-Macquart cycle for violent effects finds a profusion of them in every one of the twenty novels. Certain readers, however, feel that Zola's violence, no matter how obvious, is not entirely banal and is worthy, even, of careful study. Let us begin, therefore, by jotting down, in correct order and without regard for squeamish tastes, the really brutal moments of the series. A list of them resembles strikingly, at first glance, the programs of old melodrama. Perhaps, like such programs, our list also should be printed in various sensational sizes of type; for, as we shall see later on, Zola's work has distinct affinities with the melodrama. At any rate, here, in tabloid fashion, are the incidents we propose to study.