Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-12-21
NO FAITH In VIRTUE.
AN INTERVIEW WITH EMILE lola
AT HIS COUNTRY HOME.
The Dogmatic Views Of tho Founder OF
the "RsaiistIc' school of Modern TIC
iion-His Own Experience.


a clerk in Hachett's book store, on the
Boulevard st. German, earning s24 per
month To-day he is practically a NIL
lionaire. No living French writer has
amassed more money than be from the
products Of his pen. His novels sell py
the hundred thousand. On the first pup
licatiou Of any of his stories by news
paper he receives tho sum OF S5,UVo'
His publisher subsequently pays nm
double that sum for the copyright Oh
the work, and gives him, moreover
splendid royalty on its sale. II IS 10
wonder, therefore, that under these CIR
cumstances the slim, raW-boned couh-
ter-iumper OF a quarter Of a century ago
should have deloped into the portiy'
pleasanty-looking bondhclder OF today
Medan, where he lives. IS o PIC
turesque little village near the Seine'
and Is situated few miles from Parls'
Here Nj. and Nine. Iola spend seven
or eight months OF every year. cont NJ
ing themselves with paronizing theH
town house during November, Decein'
her. and January. Their country nome
il a small two-storied building, ana 10
approached by a miniature lawn. Uh-
pretentious as the building looks, IL mas
nevertheless. a history Under It's hum
ble roof il was that Zola, hanked by his
voung and ardent disciples, spent those
attic nights and partook Of those sup,
IRIS which were subsequently celebrated
in a volume entitled Les Soirees de
Medan."
BIRTHPLACE or "REALIsTIC" NOVELS.
II was around the little mahogany Ia
BILE in the drawing-room that the sinah
but enthusiastic knot of GterdtcWs,
guided and inspired by the host himself,
started that revolution IN art and letters
which alterward assumed such starting
dimeuaons-a revolution which was first
conceived by Balzac in his " Human
Comedy" developed by Gautier IN his
history Of the fair but frail Nine. Bovary,
and which finally forced the doors OF
French literature and succeeded III
having It's claims 10 popularity allowed
and Observation-Disclosures to the ell
forts Of Zola, aided and abetted ny
Guy de Maupassant, Paul Arene, and
a dozen other young noyelists OF the
day. When lola daringly wrote his
"fault Of the Able Mouret, and when
Guy de Maupassant depicted a brainless
but Adouis-like pressman making ms
way 10 fame and fortune on the ruined
virtue and broken marriage VOWS OF a
bankers wife when, in fact, the natu-
ralist formula was promulgated and the
school OF ROmanists was rldlculed as
ooterie of cranks and fossils, storm OF
Indignation swept down on the devoted
heads Of the Berah of Medan. victor
lingo pontifcated in his usual oracular
fashion against them. Dumas crossed a
lance or two with these audacious lnno-
vators. The Academy poured On them
the Walls of it's wrath.
Certainly there was at the time much
truth in the criticisms that emanated
from these quarters. Fidelity to nature,
as such, was all well enough as long as 1t
was confined within the limits OF com
mon decency, but when 1t outstepped
those limits it degenerated into hcen
tiousness, aud could not, therefore, meet
with the approval or even the federation
of those who have still ct heart the cause
of morality. Despite the opposition so
strenuously offered them the Mechanics
eventually conquered all before them,
with the result that the school they
founded has now to a large extent sup
planted the romantic school OF Hugo and
Lamartine.
PERSONALITY or lola.
Having been ushered into the study of
fine GREAT novelist in his Inaisonnette
in Medan, l saw q gentleman of medium
stature. somewhat stout build, and look
ing as fresh and ruddy Of countenance
as a peasant from the plains Of Norman
DIV. His age might be anywhere be-
tween forty-fve and fifty; tufts OF
bushv. stand-On-an-end hair, slightly
tnped with gray, crowned an ample fore
head, beneath which flashed two pene-
trating brown eyes that look cut at you
through a pair Of golden-rimmed bino-
Giles with a mingled air OF criticism and
self-esteem. His short-set, ruddy neck,
poised on broad, massive shoulders,
added 10 his somewhat brusque ana
rugged manner, and lent him the APP
pearance of a pugailist ratherthan that OF
an author. Still, his physique did not
after oil belle the reputation which he
ENJOYS OF being one OF the most aggres-
siye of the militant writers OF the cen
fury.
~ am always glad to meet journal
ist." he observed in deep bass voice,
after glancing through the letter OF intro
duotion Indeed, am. ! was myself az
one time, you know, a correspondent
for several Russian newspapers"
After few preliminary observations
of a more or less desultory character
plunged right ahead into the subject
matter of the interview by asking him
the title Of his forthcoming novel
81 don't know it myself" he exclaim,
ed. 81 never do give title to any OF
nv books until the time for writing Its
preface arrives. My next story, however,
will deal with the aristocracy. L take up
as YOU may know, n certain class o.
society in each of my novels. la "A
j .ssommoir l played the drunken
workingman in Nina sought to mir
TOT the theatrical and gallant Life
of the bouleyards in Pot Bouille
I showed up the rottenness that II
eating up tho yltsls of the bourgeois.
sAu Petit Bonheur' is the record OF mer
aud women who pass their existence be
hind the counters Of q mammoth drapery
store; while La Terre can stand sponsor
| for the avarice and brutality of the peas
ant and the miner. Now l think 1t II
time for me to have fling at the dainty
aristocracy. Moreover, they deserve
the scalping-knife just as much il no
more than any other class OF society.
chow is it that you always take az
the dark side of life in your writings
"Because l have discovered no high
side in it worth speaking of. l have
been over twenty-five years studying
bumanity-not theoretically, but practl
cally. i have mixed with the crowd
watching its every move and noting 1t
every motion, and, would you believe 1t
have found the old Adam predominant
everywhere? What the world calls viz
ture is only in most cases q mask 10
/ T-looJ 40 NOT know If