"Nana" was published by Emile Zola (1840-1902) as the ninth volume of his novel cycle, the Rougon-Macquart. As a high-class courtesan, Nana has risen to the highest echelons of Parisian society. At her whim, she humiliates men and ruins them with her extravagant lifestyle. But then the tide turns. When she finally abandons the high-ranking imperial official Muffat, she loses her main financial supporter. Penniless, Nana turns her back on Paris and only returns, gravely ill, at the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War.