Journalism was the

avenue which now

appeared most
open, and Zola got
an appointment on
the staff of
anewspaper called
 L'Evenement 
, in which he wrote
articles on literary
and artistic subjects.
His views were
nottempered by
moderation, and
when he
depreciated the
members of the
 Salon
 in order to exalt
Manet,afterwards
an artist of
distinction, but then
regarded as a
dangerous
revolutionary,
the public outcry
was suchthat he was
forced to
discontinue
publication of the
articles. He then
began a second
story called
 Le Vaeud'une
Morte
 in the same
newspaper. It was
intended to please
the readers of 
 L'Evenement 
, but from the
firstfailed to do so,
and its publication
was stopped before
it was half
completed. Soon
afterwards
 L'Evenement 
was incorporated
with the
 Figaro
, and Zola's
connection with it
terminated. A time
of hardship again
began,and during
the year 1867 the
wolf was only kept
from the door by
unremitting toil of
the least agreeable
kind.In the midst of
his difficulties Zola
wrote two books
simultaneously, one
supremely good and
the
otherunquestionably
bad. The one was
 Therese Raquin
, and the other
 Les Mysteres de
Marseille
. The latter,
whichwas pure
hack-work, was
written to the order
of the publisher of
a Marseillaise
newspaper, who
suppliedhistorical
material from
researches made by
himself at the
Marseilles and Aix
law courts, about
the various
causes celebres
 which during the
previous fifty years