New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-06-06
4 VISIT TO n. lola.
Erom ne 81. Lanefs Gazette..

GGzeh.
> From the extremely modern character OF M
Zolas novels it is natural to expect 70 find HIM Nv
ing in house furnished after the latest rarlstan
Rashion, and it's walls hung with pictures by the
most resOlute "impressionist" painters But no
supposition could be more erroneous: Japan and the
ing n zoSs fine country house at Medant than the
boulevard upholsterers. The house is of red brick
with towers. and from steep hillside LOOKS 9oMn
Nanders shaded by long lines OF gray poplars ana
alders. After going up and down, TO night ana leit
et least half dozen little staircases lined win
Japanese ornaments and draperies, you are shown
Into room III Oh, from its immense size and en0r-
nous window, looks like painters studio. The
first things that eaten the sSe are then lns tbs Tuh
and japanese lamps outside, contrasting strangely
with the green French Landscape.
At first you do not the DISTINGUISHED occupant
of the room: but now he rises from huge sofa,
placed next the open window, and advances to meet
1 s sSnare - shoulders 90 and f ScR neck indicate
the determination of the man; the face wonid be
ordinary enough, were IT not for q most prllllaht
cOId and distant man, but that soon wears off.
When the first words Of explanation were over, M:
Zos took up book from the table beside hum and
resding" 1t was adam Bede.7 had not TO ask
bis opinion for he went on at once:
You know / care little for the modern English
novel: it seems to me to have transformed itself
from the hard, analytical study OF men and their
passions into the sentimental tract; Bu ners, ne
Nhich served a paper knife, /" all Is different
how clear the reasoning from cause TO efect-how
superior to the amOrous storytelling OF George
Sand I wish you had come TO see me
Tomorrow or the day after, for / have not
yet finished the first volume; With what have
read am enchanted. Eliot is the English Flaubert,
and greater praise than that is not In my power t.
give. compare her TO Flaubert, because of the
eense of reality In her descriptions be it landscape
or interior sac at once seizes the principal line,
avoiding challenging and enumerating. Inc descrp-
lions in her WORK are only used to present the per-
eonage more wildly to the reader, not 10 display
rhetorical skill. From what have read like her
better than Dickens. You English have an un-
bounded admiration for your magical stOry-teller
1e is that certainly, but nothing more. lie never
quits hold of you If lac did, for moment only.
she intensity of his emotion that keeps alive the airy
creations of his fancy. There are no large and
broad are bose Of sent
pental puppets we STE III all the boulevard meio-
And Thackeray Z" asked
"AbI Thac keray like better; and suppose all Of
you in England, outside the ordinary public, like
him better. But find him more difficult TO under
stand than any of the Others he entirely English
That some times find il hard to follow him. But he
appears TO me TO be of satirist than novel
kss anu cannot help thinking OF Swift when read
7 You must hear NJ. lola talk to appreciate. the
interest he takes not only in French but IN all
literature. He tells you hat the Russians, Italians,
English and German novelists are doing, and where
they succeed aud fail with wonderful critical IN
sight. In all that regards the publication OF books
he is curiOusly inQusltiye; and he greatly depre-
cates our circulating library system. The English
novel he says, lis dying under the yoke 1t fofbids
the complete and exact analysis oil man, ana cOnnes
the novelist to telling stories lit for family reading.
OF course was very anxious to hear something OF
n Zoa's new novel. Ii Is study OF the 0OuTgeOsSe
and will reveal their narr0wness of mind and their
own peculiar, miserable vices, as " LAssonmoir"
showed the brutality OF the people In tact to ally
it to "LAssOmmoir,p NJ. ZoIa Is thinking OF calling
Ii LA Pot-bomlle slang for pot-daIteu); Le
Foyero would mean nothing, and " Nos Bourgeois"
"A TOO much like Sardou Vi. lola has also written a
dramatic version of the Curee," i'll which Sarah
Bernhardt will appear this winter If she goes back
20 the francas. Ii has been much altered that 1T
Is more an original play than dramatic version of
me the honor to read large portions OF this play
and my belief is that it will prove one OF
Aha greatest literary truImphs OF modern
days The third act Is very remarkable IL passes
in q conservatory. Sdccdrd wishes TO marry
Marine TO helress. Renee, the beautiful Partisan
goddess of silk and perfume, consents, and aids her
husbands projects, but in feeble, vacllating way
under the black marble sphinx III the shade of the
heavy tropical vegetation Of the conservatory She
can stand it no longer, and she falls into Marines
arms crying, Mon, je ne peux pasV Sarah Bern
hardt in this part may be expected 70 embody all the
modern world knows of faEciful beauty, deep pas
SON and frivolous anxiety. But will the play be
permitted in Londoni M lola wants to know.
What will the Lord Chamberlain say THAT u the
Question. NO." am afraid.
= Here the conversation turned back to George
Eliot and all the way along the quaint japanese
passages and staircases my host questioned me about
Scenes OF Clerical Life" Daniel Deronda," and
sEiddiemarch (which latter i promised TO send
him, as he babe me good-by ut the door.