Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1889-04-26
lola ON JOURNALISM.
he Says the Interviewer and ROmancer
Are Very Closely Related.

He Says the Interviewer and RomanceE
Are Very Closely Related.
It is no news that NJ Emile Zola takes a
much higher view Of the functions Of jour
nalism than is affected by the majority Of
writers Of books. Journalists win therefore
doubtless read with interest the following
extract from letter to NJ Emile Blavet,
which is to be published as preface to the
fifth volume Of the "Vie Parisienne":
II remember" says NJ lola, ''of the fury
Of our dear and great Flaubert when a re
porter presented himself at his house. The
| following days he did not cease to exclaim,
with gestures of strong indignation, that he
was willing to give his books to the public,
but that his house, his person, his ways of
living and thinking were things sacred and
inviolable which he was resolved to hide from
indiscreet curiosity. l pointed out that he,
the author of Madame Bovary'-the chef
d'Ruvre Of our written romance-was, may
be, not very logical in making all this fuss be
cause he found in journalism the same pro-
cess Of inquiry which he had himself en-
ployed in literature But when his passion
carried him away he was not open to logic,
and he continued to abominate reporters to
the point of being moved to tears at the least
article which appeared about him.
mancers who make our books from docu-
ments and who only co-relate notes taken on
the things and men about us, proceed
identically like the journalist, studying actu-
atty, visiting the celebrity Of the day, and
publishing only the process verbal Of what
takes place We make use in our magma
tive artistic creations Of the investigation
which journalism brings to bear on real
facts and on the living actors of the daily
drama. The two march in step in the intel
lectual evolution of society, and the same
tool is in the hands Of both workmen during
the same hour. 1t is, doubtless, because of
this fraternity felt and understood by me for
a long time, that, far from being angry with
the new journalism, l have always taken a
very lively interest in it. / may even say
that is all read in the newspapers; the ac-
curate accounts, the look Of a sitting or an
audience, the portraits Of eminent men taken
from nature, the words actually said, the
places and the sights described, just as they
are, by eye witnesses. | rarely read without
anger or fatigue leading article, while am
never tired Of learning facts
I'm good sooth, the part Of registrar Of
Partisan life is not an easy one, and what
makes it harder Is the fashion in which some
people discharge it. Do you know that there
is necessary for it all the literary qualities
intelligence, spirit, tact, a style neat and
frank, an art Of getting straight to the point
without getting beyond it, Have you real
lied what difficult task is there-and the
more so because you make a man speak to
whom you lend your style and whom you
compromise at pleasure if you make him say
that which he has not meant to sayi To be
mechanically accurate is nothing. It isneces-
sary to take account Of the tone with which
the phrases have been spoken, to assign them
their true value, to do the same with the hour
and the circumstances; in a word, the task is
the most difficult and the most thankless.
Again, what misery oftenl It is necessary to
have experienced it to have spoken without
mistrust, and to find in the morning ones
phrases printed to realize the disaster of find
ing a word out of its place 1t is right and it
is wrong One speaks in fragments, all logic
has disappeared, the phrase which follows
that which went before To cor
rect 1t is impossible-that only makes one
more ridiculous. The best way is to indorse
it all without complaint But l confess l
share little Of Flaubert's anger against the
by hook or by crook, of our con
temporary journalism. "-London Globe.