New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-07-31
THE SfWER IN LJTER4TURE.


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THE SEWER IN LITERATURE.
NJ. Emile lola, the author of a "pOpu-
''larn novel which has been turned into a
popular" play, has lately been promulgating
his political and literary convictions with con-
siderable frankness. As NJ. ZOla is at the
head of the much-talked-Of naturallstic
school Of literature, it may be worth while to
recapitulate some of these convictions. In the
first place, NJ. lola somewhat dlstrusts the
Republic. which ioolIsbly keeps up great
noise about pohtics--a thing the Empire never
did-and which has not accepted " the litera-
ture of facts ~ in shoIt, has not instantly
canoni2ed VI. lola and his disciples.
And here he defines what he considers his and
their position in literature. They are the sci
&" entific thinkers 81 know he says, "yOu
Unjust have principles, just as you have po-
" lice, to quiet the nerves of old women. Only
&" YOU may as well remember that your prin-
ciples are at the most good for solemn
coke, centre Ia pore ct lie fromage.' And
with all your principles you must leave us
free-we, the scientific thinkers OF literature
free TO diSscct, TO analyze, to spread the
"reSults of our analysis by describing man
without his draperios. We want no encOur-
" aSement in the shape of decorations or pen
1" sons or academies or prizes. Spread these
Z" as YOU please, and plume yourselves on the
idea that you are either making or marring
A." literature by these "details de cuisine adj
80 minlstratiYe.' We laugh at your ribbons
81 and crosses and the hOtnouses of your f0s
tering only leave us free"
NJ. lola is accordingly free land it may
easily come to be suspected that this elaborate
scorn of decorations and academies arises
from a little soreness that his freedom
from these gauds and vanites should be so
complete. He IL free, and he uses his freedom
by fishing in sewers and exhibiting the fruits
OF that pleasant employment. According to
Zola and his imitators, naturalsm" means
nastiness That is to say, ii you will only in
troduce m unwashcd, unclothcd and pro-
fame stableman among the guests at your
dinner-table you will be sweetly natural.
NJ. lola does an exactly analogous thing.
Using real genius in his work, he expects
that his books--which certainly are MOI
troubled with principles "-shall receive the
applause of thoughtful and educated people
he exuts in the success of play which has
not one redeeming feature of human decency,
and which only serves to inilame the wOrsl
passions of those who witness it. In his very
exultation he reveals his vanity and the
degradation of his talent. In long letter
quoted by The London Era, he rejoces that
the scene which the adapters of the play
after the first representations cut out as least
successful, was the virtuOus scene," the sim
Gle ray of light in that gulf of blackness.
is not this characteristic ?" he asks with APP
parent pride. Here are the authors adapt
ers) "who think themselves bound to make
" certain concessions, to introduce high flown
speeches, to give as 1t were an equilibrium
" to the drama, while the audience, more adj
"vanced in the path of naturalism. will have
'none of them"
Then he proceeds to talk of the moral les
son Of the drama and of its value as " a de-
.'terrent picture" What lesson can possibly
lie in play which finds its success in ex-
Guiding every glimpse of spiritual ceanli-
ness Does it show that audiences have
drawn from it any healthy moral when they
declare that what they want is unnixed horror
and vileness NJ. lola cOnvicts himself.
1.-THE public" he says cOmplacently. "is
"mOre ripe for naturalism than even had
" thought it to be-" Then, indeed, may man
kind begin to despair of a country that loves
such dirt, and breeds a man who wallOws III
il for his country peoples amusement and in
struction. This man pants whole village in
which there is not one spark Of any moral
feeling whateycr-In truth, Its tone Is below
that of n colony Of dumb brutes. is this
nature Is France indeed so lost that only
a second deluge can make her clean 7 Who
will believe ii None who realize with what
quiet strength it has established and conducted
an honest X public upon the ruins of the lux
urious and encryaGng Second Empire OF all
the remains of that Empire, NJ. lola is as
suredly the most deplorable; and the more
talent he shows the more must men condemn
and lament the use he makes of it. If "sci-
"entifc thinking and 1.-THE literature of
"facts" mean simply writing of NJ. Zola's
sort then must 1t be deeply mourned that
France has no law tor the suppression of
" scientific thinking"
The man who paints such filth, who gives
tho minutest details of the most disgusting
and unnatural habits of the lowest living be-
ings, may be proud of doing It cleverly but
let him not assume that he is serving society
or presenting any moral lesson whatever.
Poor "human naturep is made the scape-
goat of many an evil. Ii is false litera-
ture that does not paint its noble side
Us well as the ignoble one. N. lola is cer-