Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1888-11-16
EMILE ZoLA.
An Interview With the Great French
Author on His Writings-Are
Engiish and American
Critics PEudes.
The Great French Rea5ist Compares the
Morals Of Eis PsspIe With Those
Of the AngIo-SaZOn
Race.

Pans, November in view Of the resent
hne imposed upon the London publishers
OF La Tsrre Herald correspondent called
yesterday morning upon III. Emile lola.
This king Of realistic writer's lives in hand
some apartments near the Palace Clichy
he IS a younger looking man than his pOr-
traits indicate and his long dark hair is
brushed back straight from his forehead
and not arranged in the untidy way general
y represented. He wore brown velvet
jacket and was seated before a desk covered
with MSS. This is my sanctum,' - said NJ.
Zola raising from q luxurious chair in which
he was half buried, land you find me at
work on my next romance"
''What will it be about?"
'Ah, VOLTA, you must wait until it appears.
vii say this much, however, that ib viii
be quite different from any of my previous
works. am developing the history Of a
crime and hope TO produce something with
powerful dramatic interest.
about the Judgment Of the English court
against La Ierre' do you want to know my
honest opiuiOnI Well. here it is. What
possible difference can it make to me that
one of my works has been prescribed to
English reader5? My rank IN the literary
world will be determined by quite a differ
ent tribunal, by a tribunal which never errs
that of pOsterity. If a dog steals leg OF
mutton from your table, do you care very
much If another dog rob the thief of his
plumber? That is precisely my position as
regards English and particularly American
publishers. / am told that my books have
large sales III the United States, but have
never received single sou of the proceeds.
In the present case Nezstelly Bros. paid me
2OOO francs Tor the English right to La
Terre.' What Is 1900 francs? Do you know
that the sale of one Of my novels IN France
averages me 100000 francs?
EprrH IA p oh
ucy which eXasperates me as the intOlerable
Anglo-SaxOn hypocrisy. These austere
Enghshmen turn up their eyes IN holy horror
when any mention is made OF what they are
fond of calling French vices. They would
have the world believe that all the evils of
their social system are imported from the
France and they seem to consider me
the incarnation of all thai IS the worst IN
France. If London IL populated with fal-
len women we are told 1t IS the contagion of
Paris. If the Pail Mall Gazette pitilessly
lays bare the rOttenness of the English up
per classes the burden OF this secret SIN Is
laid upon the French Immediately. If
Whitechapel flows with the blood of sOciety's
outcasts II IS forsOoth, because M. lola has
perverted the innocent minds of the British
youth. Bah, such Pharasaical prudery is
Eickening. We have recently hOnOred the
English Shakespeare with a statue IN our
city. Let those who presume to condemn
my writings read what he has written. Let
them also read Ben JOn5On aud Smollett
and Byron, and say whether IN the whole
range Of French literature they can find
anything more coarse and 1ndelIcate. If you
walk along the Rue de RivOi YOU will find
vile books in abundance. It is q significant
fact that they are written IN English. IL IS
true, too, that Paris contains haunts of vice
and debauChery. Ask the English speaking
guides who swarm abCutsOur great hotels who
are the best patrons of these shameful insti-
tutiCns. Then these sly debauchees, these
pr8ting Puritans, 20 home and tell each
other that my books are not fit for their
daughters to read.
''But what Is the literary food which they
pRsr their we'll trained daughters? They
deny them the tainted French novel and
substitute a moral, oh highly moral, Eng
Hsh or American newspaper. And what do
these unsullied buds of wOmanhOOd find in
these same moral sheets? They learn that
IN England as well as elsewhere woman Is
woman whatever her rank and station, and
that man remains man IN spite of tiles or
pretentions. They are served every morn
ing at the breakfast table with p detailed
account Of denominations and depravities
which respectable French paper would not
print. I would respectfully ask If all this
sensational news Is any less hideOus because
it is truth, because 1t is the work of the pO-
lice reporter instead of the literary artist. "
Eyes, ] dare to call my work artistic and
claim that 1t Is written with high, phllO-
sOphical aim. Take for instance this same
much abused La Ierre.' Compare 1t with
lie Reve,' which carping critics have pro
nOunced respectable. In the former there
are almost forty pages, which are declared
Objectionable. The several hundred remain
ing pages are In no way different from those
of LIS Reve.' Only in lie Reve' / chose to
leave out these forty pages and, presto, the
bOOl becomes exemplary. Is it probable
that If my purpose IN writing was, as my
Eng sh friends maintain. to indulge IN lit
era debauchery / would have been so mod
crate In my efforts? From that point of
view my books are by no means bad enough.
II admit the difficulty Of drawing the line
between the productions of an author, whose
mot are worthy and artistic, and those
written simply with the purpose of catering
TO the depraved and impure instincts of
humanity. Both kinds exist and both with
more or less accuracy portray human life
as it IL. Certainly it Is not the haphazard
London jury, which Is capable of deciding
whether ] am writing with q base and mer-
cenRry aim, and my ambition Is toward
truth and right Happily th-re Is one Judge
which never fails to discriminate between
good and bad. That judge Is Time and to
him IN the consciousness Of my own integ-
Fity / appeal fearlessly.
'tIf you ask what remedy would propose
for the vice which IA inevitable in all cOun-
tries and In all states Of society, / reply 1
believe rather in drawing men toward good
than in shutting them out from bad. Arbi-
trary repression always fails and it gener-
aggravates the evil il would suppress. For
instance, ] have no doubt that this deci non
OF the London court will result In largely
increased sales of La Ferre' In New Eng
land. So it Is in everything. The world is
no worse to-day than it has been for csntu-
ries- Those who have wanted bad books
have always found them and they always
viii find them. 1t Is vastly better to leave
such questions to re gulate themselves"