His Excellency Eugene Rougon — Emile Zola

His Excellency Eugène Rougon 1876 is the sixth novel in Zolas twenty volume Rougon Macquart cycle A political novel set in the corridors of power and in the upper échelons of French Second Empire society including the Imperial court it focuses on the fluctuating fortunes of the authoritarian Eugène Rougon the vice Emperor But it is more than just a chronicle It plunges the reader into the essential dynamics of the political the rivalries the scheming the jockeying for position the ups and downs the play of interests the lobbying and gossip the patronage and string pulling the bribery and blackmail and especially the manipulation of language for political purposes The novels themes especially its treatment of political discourse have remarkable contemporary resonance His Excellency Eugène Rougon is about politics everywhere