author
Emile Morel
1873–1919
A French writer linked to naturalism, he is best remembered for stories that brought the harsh world of coal miners vividly onto the page. His best-known book, created with illustrator Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, helped give literary shape to working-class life in the early 1900s.
1 Audiobook
Les Gueules Noires
by Emile Morel
About the author
Born in Arras on April 26, 1873, Émile Gustave Henri Morel was a French man of letters associated with the naturalist tradition. He died in Caudéran on December 16, 1919.
He is chiefly remembered for Les Gueules noires (1907), a collection of stories about coal mines and miners made in collaboration with the artist Théophile Alexandre Steinlen. That book gave him a measure of literary recognition and remains the work most closely tied to his name.
Although the surviving biographical record appears limited, Morel stands out as a writer who turned his attention to labor, hardship, and everyday life rather than grand subjects. For readers today, his work offers a compact window into the social world that naturalist writers sought to portray with honesty and detail.