Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-01-31
How lola Tor,nents Printers.

Il hll' .ldAA RfdeENNNsI
The Vienna AUgemeine Zeitung pub
fishes an interesting article by Ernst
Ziegler, who evidently writes with per-
sonal knowledge, on lola as a literary
worker. The article might, perhaps,
be we'll named "Zola as a Printers
Tormentor.'
"Zola writes everything himself /;
he never has secretary for his extern
sive correspondence. lie even seals
his wrappers and addresses them when
he sends his friends brOchWeS or his
translators material. He also writes
his literary manuscript himself. Out
Of it the printers compose what are
called 'placards, large pages with four
gigantic columns Of text. These are
sent to the author carefully revised and
free from errors. and then Iola begins
to correct. lie fills the wide margin all
round with hundreds of marks and let
tiers, ink lines cut through the text,
thin threads run croSSways and diago-
nally, entwining like lasso a sentence
scrubbed in an open space; scarcely
line is exempted from the hieroglyphics
of the master. Here a note Of interro-
CATION must make room for one of ex-
clamation here a semicol0n is changed
into a full point; a comma before or
after the ct effectively divides phrase
participles are replaced by adjectiyes;
substantiyes take the place Of pro.
nouns redundant adyerbs must also
disappear the past definite " is sub
stituted for the " imperfect; more
descriptive words supply the place
of tame ones; for an expression
repeated in five or six paSts a synOnym
is introduced; whole phrases are reno
delled. sentences are condensed into
two or three words, and even half
columns are ruthlessly consigned at
once into the compOsltor ) type case. 1t
must be bitter task to break up the
print again. but there is no help for it.
The extra fees charged elsewhere on au-
thors for corrections are not known
nobody complains; author and pub
Usher rival each other in a common
endeayor after perfection. After such
a corrected text the Paris journal
prints, and the TRANSACTIONS are done in
exactly the same way. In the news
paper print the publisher sees his work
a step nearer the book form. But the
process Of alteration is still unfinished.
and lola is not the man to watch this
process with his hands in his pockets.
lie now perceyes in his work thou
sand things which escaped him before,
and he begins anew to correct, more in
dustriously and more relentlessly than
before. lie makes rayages on the text.
refining and touching up the periods,
reconstructing whole pages, and sprink-
ling column after column with new inn
proyements. The .feUlls'on is for me
only first draught,' he once wrote to
me. At last comes the day on which
the publisher, Carpenter, receives the
last bon-d-tircr the new work is ready,
lola will never more withdraw any
thing from it, and he can now rest.
As a matter Of fact lola does not
rest, for we are told that he S Is down
at once to sketch new work directly
the one last revised has left his hands.
1T is seldom that lola does not re-
ceye the proceeds Of new work be-
fore the original manuscript leaves his
hands The novel is. however, APP
pearing regularly all the while. 49, Ger
minal began in the papers on Novem-
Der 18th Of 1884, and lola only finished
his work in the following January.
'LEuvre began on December 22d,
and lola writes to-day that he fears be
will not be able to put the word End
after the last chapter before the middle
Of February. One may picture to him
self the circumstances under which
such a work is produced. Day after
day the Paris feUiHet0a deyours from
300 to 400 lines. The printer sends
new placards to Zola's house, waits
for the corrections the translators
need material the publisher is impor-
tunate, for he must have the long
detaided 60nS-d-tIrer, since on the
day on which the last feuilleton ap-
pears the book must be in the mar
ket. So, harassed and tormented, lola
corrects again, and at the same time
writes the last quarter of his romance.
At this time he neglects all business
affairs, forgets who has sent him money,
and why, while heaps of unanswered
correspondence strew his table. In the
few letters which he absolutely must
write phrase always occurs which in
its stereotyped repetition admirably ex-
presses the condition Of the authors
mind-namely, the cry Of anguish, Je
suis 81 bouscule.' "