Nana

by Émile Zola

"Nana" by Émile Zola is a novel completed in 1880. The ninth installment in Zola's Les Rougon-Macquart series, it chronicles the rise of Anna "Nana" Coupeau from streetwalker to celebrated courtesan during the final years of France's Second Empire. Beginning with her scandalous theatrical debut, the novel traces how Nana's destructive beauty ruins every man who pursues her—driving them to bankruptcy, theft, madness, and death. Her story unfolds against a backdrop of decadence and impending national collapse.