Therese Raquin

This early work by Zola was called a "sewer," and, truth be told, some of the scenes are gruesome even by today's standards, particularly the chapter set in a morgue. The novel, a story of adultery that could appear on any given Friday on an episode of NBC's Dateline, heralded the birth of naturalism. If early practitioners could be crude, they should also be thanked for clearing the air and setting the stage for the realist, unblinking novels of Anderson and Dreiser and their ilk, who in turn cleared the way for the modernists. As Orwell said, "To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle."