佐拉 (Zuǒlā): Zola (Western surname / given n…

Meanings

1 Zola (Western surname / given name); most famously the French novelist Émile Zola (1840-1902, 埃米尔·左拉, also written 佐拉)

Characters

佐

zuǒ

to assist; (transliteration syllable for 'Zo-')

拉

lā

to pull; (transliteration syllable for '-la/-ra')

Examples

佐拉是十九世纪的法国作家。

Zuǒlā shì shíjiǔ shìjì de Fǎguó zuòjiā.

Zola was a 19th-century French writer.

佐拉发表了《我控诉》。

Zuǒlā fābiǎo le 《Wǒ Kòngsù》.

Zola published 'J'Accuse...!'

Tips

culture

Émile Zola was the leader of literary Naturalism and author of the Rougon-Macquart cycle. He's most famous for the open letter 《我控诉》 ('J'Accuse…!', 1898) defending Alfred Dreyfus — a landmark moment in press freedom. The mainland-standard rendering is 左拉, but 佐拉 also appears, especially in older or Taiwan-published translations.

usage

佐拉 also crops up as a transliteration of 'Zora' (e.g. American writer Zora Neale Hurston) and as a video-game/anime character name. Context disambiguates.