The San Francisco call., 1898-03-20

Parsl That name suggests more ideas to more people than any other word among the languages of men. It recalls the revolution which at the close of the last century overthrow the old order of things, signifies the most brilliant real ization of the present social system, which that revolution brought into be- ing, and now. more potently than any other one word, intimates a prophecy of another revolution and new social or der yet to be.
 All the world reads with interest of Paris; or if any one here or there is so sated and stalled by the frequent repeti- ton of its story as to turn aside indif- ferently from book bearing a title that magic name the Tagging interest would be revived and the jaded curiosity be reused again by seeing upon the vol tune inscribed as author the name of Zola- To-day the name of the man is almost as famous as the name of the city. Whenever in intelligent circles either is mentioned the other IS soon heard. Each name serves contending parties as a battle-cry in the conflicting opinions of the time. Each has strong friends and bitter enemies. Few men regard either with indifference.
 
 Zola,' is destined to be the subject of as fierce a controversy as has ever been waged in the annals of literature, anu an excellent translation into English by Ernest A. ViZetelly just published in two volumes by the Macmillan Company of London and New York, will give to Brit ish and American 1ders and critics a fair cause and opportunity to take part in the conflict with as much keenness as rOr-ly iS for sale in this city by all booksellers, and San Francisco, therefore, is as we'll sit uated to share in the fray as any other community.
 The work Is the continuation of the most ambitious literary effort of our time. In the trilogy of the three cities, Lourdes, Rome and Paris, Zola has attempted to accomplish much more than the nara ton of interesting incidents, the delinea- ton of striking characters, the picturing of the manners and morals of the time, and the portrayal of the emotions and passions of men involved in the meSheS of chance and circumstance, lured~ by for tune and confronted by fate. AlI'o of these things have a place in the drama un- folded in the trilogy, but they are but accessories to the central theme, which is no less than the struggle of humanity toward a new birth through which it shall attain a clearer perception of truth than has ever yet been taught in church or temple. by sage, prophet or priest since the world began.
 Paris as depicted in this work is very different from the Paris of popular con- ception, of fashionable novels or of guide books. It is even different from the Paris of the earlier novels of Zola himself. It is not simply a splendid capital where luxury and misery crowd together, where tragedies and comedies mingle incessant- iy, where pleasure-seekers from the four quarters of the earth assemble to vie with one another in extravagance. where our civilization has blossomed into it's most voluptuous rose and bears it sharpest thorn. It is as Zola himself describes it, "A huge vat In which a world fermented, something of the best and something of the worst, frightful mixture such as sorceresses might have used; precious powders mingled with filth. from all of