New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-11-16
EMILE zOLA on VICTOR HUGO.
" CLOUDY DEISM AND FGNERED MOEKISI
DREAMS"

"CLOCD1 DEISM AND Fey EItLD MUt'hISil
DREAMS"
| THE sCAvENGEK's OPINION OF THE PoFT-A col.
LECI0R or Old RUBBISH.
Claimants translation from IJitS Ircic in IL Fjq1rO
! am disgus:ed by the way m which every poet
! Mussct and Lamartlnc among others, has been
| sianecd The altar raised 10 Victor Hugo
| Chateaubriaud is only WORTHY of serving rs his
! fontsfool. 1t BalZac his woT~hppcTs laugh. To
| them Victor Hugo is all in all lie Is hailed rs n
grand poet. dramdtst. novelist cfitlc. philosopher,
I historian ana politician at one and the same time.
! | merely sum up the general opinion when ! say
that he is REGARDED as himself practically couStitut-
! Ing the whole nineteenth century. For myself.
confronted 10y this cn0rmltY. lose a,l respect and
| prefer remaining man 81 common sense. have
! no desire that If any one reads my works twenty
years hence. ne should burst into a smile. VICTOR
/ Hugo, I hOmmc du s.tci. the thinker. philosopher
! and sordat of the present century And that TOO at
! the very moment ol ms publishing l1Hf, the m
! credible GGjmdtt1s of which seems a sort OF ger
against French genius. Never IN fact not even az
! the worst periods OF literature amid the oUln-
tcsSencps of the Hotel dc Ramh0ulilct ana the peri
phrases OF the dldacic school, never repeat. has a
| more grOtesquc production seen the bgAt. IBt
| pS! must break the pact, and say aloud what
| Let us study the "man OF the century - in this
! phenomenal me- The poem Is something after the
| stvlc of philosophical story. An ass has gone to
! school and exhausted every branch of knowledge.
have put the case III couple OF lines, though tn
poet displays an overlooking wealth of The cTudi-
ton that UncarbS names ana facts unknown to the
b1HJUg0is. Have You ever heard OF EuctcuOn,
Nichuhr EncSdemu9, AcnarchuS TirashoS"hi.
10rncl. XOnIro PI0yluS, Plancarpm? No. Well.
Victor Hugo knows ali about them, ana In rem
possesses an evident supt rOrIiy over most of hi,
readers. Ills ASS" to proceed has read and
studied everything. has received instruction in
every branch of learning. and becomes greatly -.
aspcrated against human knowledge, winch n
S0uiy denies with all the bitterness of stupidity
disturbed III the happy serenity of ignorance. How
can give an idea OF the iOnewInded asinine dis
course spreading out to sometime like a couple Of
thousand versrs-the eAtent OF fve-act drama
Try to conceive all the cOmmonplaccS Mt; red 1oI
science and the iniimitics of stitch them to-
Gether IN any order You please, patch Oh the most
pTcpOstcTous dgrrSslOnS. and repeat tine same old
idea throughout three pages III lDcr, a>lngly Stupe
tViug verses. and You viii produce this WUrk-thc
height of ultc eStraya2ancc. The poets procedure
Is simple enough. lie collects AL the Oh rubbish
which nobody else would dare 10 handle. NJ
HUGO Ass. for instance, RACES against pcduns col
l,ses the inc0mprchcnShlc nonsense that siulthcs
children: he thIndors AGAINST books especially biz
books much more guilty IN his eyes than little
ones he sputtcrs forth his Indignation nj the attI-
tude toward men OF genius assumed by the crowd :;
and finally passes a severe Judgment on the conduct
OF ris-arjS OF creation. society, and himself.
All this. repeat, j. OF doubtful novelty. and the
worst Is that the Ass brings forward no ideas or
argument. We are obliged TO wade throual endless
Pathology, though we must admit that tin poets
tautoiosv Is OF the most sublime order. The
StalcSt --LATEST things assume the most granlOsc
aspect We find CalinO disguised as Isaiah. Al
this would be mediocre enough il told simply. but
being pat in raryclloasIy inflated language il he
comes absolutely nnIcadaole. 1t IS positively
staggering. | almost fancied that was listening
TO Marlborough sen ga-t-cn gucrrc" being
trnInpttcd forth at The Last judgment"
now get 10 the thinker, philosopher. and sardHt
We know the opinion of the Ass. that man is q
wcakllng and science a poison. No doubt an
animal in this case is giving his opinion. At the
same time. must remember that this is the
medium chosen by the poet for expressing his own
thoughts as is evident from the cOmplacent way in
which the Ass is made 10 speak. The poet lends
him his style and mods his head IN approval What
an extraordinary philosophical testament the
Man OF the Century" then goes on 10 leave us,
How is thisY We are struggling, laborng and adj
Nancing with giant strides in knowledge; even III
the last hundred wears sciences have sprung up and
increased, while magnificent evolution has
launched man forward toward the conuuest OF
truth. And yet-this Is precisely the moment that
our hero has selected for cOnjuIing up the Ass TO
insult Science.
The man is not one Of us, he does not belong ia
Our century notwithstanding the attempf that ~
being made 10 represent him as its unique figure rs
the very incarnation Of modern thought He
belongs to the middle ages, and knows nothing
whatever Of our beliefs or labOrs Alas my po0I
head The poet calls his theories 4" the safety of
thinkers lie must really he easy To Teassurc If his
vague beliefs satisfy hum. After having declared
that none, excepting Socrates and Christ. have as
vet understood "IascensiOn tcnebfeuse de lhommco
which is much as limiting that he himself un-
derstandS IT, he sOcmnly declares that 10 bleu sort
de la bruno" and adds that "pas IN phi du ridem
du temple est perdu." In case his meaning should
not have been grasDed. he cries alssc passcr
Ieclpse ct tn veTras rctOe." Ii pushed further
into a corner. he will explain that 10 VERDE
q pour racine Obscure les algebies" and he will