In 1898, Émile Zola published J'Accuse, accusing French authorities of antisemitism and a cover-up in the case of Alfred Dreyfus. The affair divided France over army honour, republican justice, and prejudice. It became a defining modern crisis of state power and public truth.

The Dreyfus Affair made the writer an active public conscience and helped define the modern intellectual. It influenced poets and prose writers concerned with antisemitism, exile, nationalism, and the responsibility of language in political life.