''Les Soirées de Médan'' ("Evenings at Médan") is a collection of six

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...

by six different writers associated with Naturalism, first published in 1880.Britannica.com
/ref> All the stories concern the Franco-Prussian War. The contents of the book are as follows: *''L'Attaque du moulin'' ("The Attack on the Mill") by

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...

*'' Boule de Suif'' ("Ball of Tallow") by

Guy de Maupassant Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (, ; ; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, remembered as a master of the short story form, as well as a representative of the Naturalist school, who depicted human lives, destin ...

*''Sac au dos'' ("Backpack") by

Joris-Karl Huysmans Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans (, ; 5 February 1848 – 12 May 1907) was a French novelist and art critic who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans (, variably abbreviated as J. K. or J.-K.). He is most famous for the novel '' À rebour ...

*''La Saignée'' ("Bloodshed") by Henri Céard *''L'Affaire du Grand 7'' ("The Affair of the Great 7") by Léon Hennique *''Après la bataille'' ("After the Battle") by

Paul Alexis Antoine Joseph Paul Alexis (16 June 1847 – 28 July 1901) was a French novelist, dramatist, and journalist. He is best remembered today as the friend and biographer of Émile Zola. Life Alexis was born at Aix-en-Provence. He attended the Co ...

The collection took its title from Zola's house at

Médan Médan () is a village in the Yvelines department, Île-de-France region, in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France, about 25 km from the capital. Inhabitants of Médan are called ''Médanais''. Geography Médan is located in the Seine V ...

, near

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, where writers would meet for literary dinners. The authors were often referred to collectively as the "Médan group". The aim of the collection was to promote the ideals of Naturalism, by treating the events of the Franco-Prussian War in a realistic and often unheroic way, in contrast to officially approved patriotic views of the war. By far the most famous story in the collection is '' Boule de Suif'', which immediately launched the career of the young

. Zola's story became the basis for an opera of the same name by Alfred Bruneau.

References

External links

* 1880 anthologies French anthologies Fiction anthologies Franco-Prussian War fiction {{france-stub