The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-06-14
EMILE ZOLA'S
NEW BOOK.
''ROme" Is an Eloquent
Work of Fine Senti-
mentS.
Product of a MateriaIist in
Thought and d ReaIist
in Art.
he Found in the Eternal City Only the
Vanity of Life Which Vexes
the Spirit.

ments expressed in fine phrases. As a
rule the characters do not talk, but de-
claim; they do not converse, but deliver
orations to one another. The work there
fore, is distinct departure from the pre-
vailing form of novel-writing, in which all
conversation is made short, choppy and
realistic, and is return to the form which
prevailed fifty years ago in England when
under the influence of BuIwer and DisraeII
the heroines and heroes talked like poets
or philosophers and poured forth their
thoughts in that i'm FASHIONED prose which
gave to the novel something of the charm
of poetry while detracting from its
dramatic force.
The second thing to be said is that while
the book has the form of novel and is
clothed in the garments of romance, it is
by no means to be classed with the liter
allure designed to amuse the leisure hours
of the reader. 1t is less a work of fiction
than serious study of the conditions of
life to-day in that wonderful city which
wears the triple honor of being the sur
viving capital of the ancient world, the
capital of the Catholic church and the cap
ital of regene Grated Italy. The scope of
the work includes an attempt to depict
every phase of its politics, both clerical
and national; of its social life, both high
and low, and its architecture, both ancient
and modern. In such a work eloquent
writing was of course a necessity. The
modern style of novel could in no wise
adequately deal with the magnitude of the
theme.
1t is hardly necessary TO say the study is
not one of true appreciation. A material
ist in philosophy and realist in art, there
is no faculty of Zola's mind in complete
sympathy with any aspect of Rome, and
without sympathy there can be no right
appreciation of anything. The attitude of
lola toward Rome is disclosed in the fact
that his hero goes to the city full of hopes
and faith and comes away bereft of all of
them. 1t is story that records the van
ishing Of illusions. 1t is evident, there
fore, that from the outset lola studied
Rome with an eye hostile to its influences,
and found in it only that vanity of life
which is the vexation of the spirit.
The value OF the study lies in the fact
that however unsympathetic it may be, it
was made by keenly critical mind out of
impressions gained on the spot by one of
the acutest observers of human life now
living, and has been set forth by master
in the art of fiction. 1t is description of
Roman life from the standpoint of one
who saw it only from the outside, but
nevertheless it is a description that re-
veals in the movements of the men and
women no little of the spirit that animates
them from within. It will Justly take rank
among the great books of the day, and in
the eIoquence of many of its passages the
reader will find sufficient beauty of thought
and grace of phrase to compensate in
large measure for the lack of beauty and
grace in the conception of the story as
whole.
Pierre Froment, a young priest who,
after an experience at Lourdes, had nearly
lost his faith in the church, was taken up
in Paris by priest engaged in the work
of caring for the poor. Enlisted as
helper IN this work of charity, Froment
grows to regard the church of Rome as a
mighty power dedicated by God to the
task of caring for the weak and suffering,
and bringing about in the world a reign of
love and helpfulness that would put an
end to the sin, the suffering and the
wretchedness that now prevail in it by rea-
son of the hard burdens imposed upon the
poor by the strong and the powerful.
Under the influence of this faith Fro
ment writes book, in which he maintains
that an economical question is invariably
hidden beneath each religious revolution,
and that upon the whole the everlasting
evil and the everlasting struggle has never
been aught but conflict between the rich
and the poor. Jesus himself appears as a
claimant Of the rights OF the poor. His
church, therefore, must be a church
which stands for the poor against the
&ba II
the corruptions of the rich. Froment
asserts that the time has now come
when the church must once more
come forward as the champion OF the
people. The world has reached a crisis
out of which there can come but one of
three things-an absolute despotism of
wealth. the anarchy of mad revolution or
to Rome to take the lead in the spiritual
work of reconcIling men and nations to
the coming of reign of love. Without
making a direct attack on dogma he adj
vocates an enlargement of religious feeling
freed from rites and absorbed in the one
satisfaction of human charity.
The book is denounced at Rome and
Froment goes to that city to defend it.
There he finds himself immersed in that
WHIRLPOOL of ambition, intrigue, passion,
politics and clericalism that makes up the
life of Rome as it eddies back and forth
between the cOnnlctlng CaplLalS OF the
Vatican and Quirinal. The story soon
becomes crowded with characters varying
in all degrees of rank from the Pope to
street beggars. The principal figures are
Cardinal Boccanera, q type OF the
proud aristocracy of Rome; Cardinal
Sanguinettai, a type Of one of
those strong, self-made men who rise
from low degree to high rank IN the
church and who are more ambitious of its
power than the old princes OF Rome them
selves: Monsignor Mani Jesuit, type OF
those diplomatic leaders of the church
who are willing to concede much to the
mowers of the world in order to gain much
from it; Count Prada. type of the heroes
who fought with Garibaldi for the redemp-
tion of Italy; Count Luigi Prada, his son,
an ardent Royalist and type of the young
men who wish to make Italy great ma
ton. Signor Sacco, one of the great spec
nJators who reaped sudden fortunes out of
the rebuilding and improvement of Rome,
and last but by no means least, Benedetta
and her cousin, Daria Boccanera, whose
love story forms the romance of the work /
and infuses it with the passion, the mys-
terry and the tragedy that are forever assoc
ciated with all IDEAS OF romance in Italy.