Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1902-10-11

Ella w. Peattie In Chicago Tribune
Had Emile lola died previous to the
martyrdom Of Dreyfus, he would have
been much less lamented than he is to-
day. Up TO that time he had been mis-
understood by Frenchmen, who dis
liked him for artistic and other rea-
sons, as well as by foreigners who sus-
pected him Of motives Of which he was
incapable. His heroism at the time Of
the Dreyfus trial aroused France to the
consciousness that he was a formida-
BILE figure, and awakened the rest OF
the world to an appreciation Of his pro-
found earnestness, the depths and In
tegrity Of his character, and his high
and distinctive ideas in regard to life
and his relation to them.
Zoa was born in Paris, April 2 1870,
of a French mother and an Italian IA
Their. The elder lola was a Venetian,
son OF Greek woman, man Of grand
lose ideas and an engineer by profession
He constructed the canal at AK (Bou-
ches du Rhone) that bears his name,
Emile passed much of his boyhood at
AK, returning TO Paris In 1858. His
father died when he was Z, and his
mother made extraordinary efforts to
give him an education, though he was
not q promising pupil, as his instruc-
tors at the Lycee Saint Louis testl-
fed.
Before he had reached the age of ~
he was out in the world trying to make
a living for himself He was first a
aborer on the docks, then a salesman
for Hanchette & Co. He lived a
wretched life I'm one Of the lowest OF
hotels, among hard living students and
unhappy women, but he did not at any
time partake Of their license. From the
first he appeared to regard life with the
eyes of a scientist. II was an instinct
with him TO observe. When his miser-
able hotel was invaded by the police
and its vocferOus inmates hustled out
upon the pavement, he was interested
to observe the drama, The actions OF
the gendarme, the manners Of the wo-
men, the futile eXpostulations Of the
men, the oaths. the pathos, the defiance
everything claimed his impersona
attention.
Meantime he wrote poems, then later
prose. and there was never a day so
abject that his ambition did not appear
before him with distlnctness There
was never a time when he did not in
tend and expect 70 be famous. His
egotism, or his genius, dominated him
utterly. lie wrote during the period
of his clerkship for Hanchette & Co. a
number Of short stories, which In 1856
were collected under the title OF
| "Contes a Ninon" He tried contribute
ing to certain newspapers and period
icals and Jared so well that he felt JUS
titled IN resigning his position with the
booksellers. He was of the opinion
that he could write books better than
he could seel them. The need for money.
however, caused him 70 write "The
Mysteries OF Marseilles," for which his
friends apologize and his enemies quot
ed against him. 1t was story Of vio-
fence ana the persecution Of the inno-
cent by the guilty, and II revolted
many Of the judiclous. II was perhaps
the occasion of the unrelenting preiu-
dice with which Nj, Tame regarded him.
There followed "Therese Raquin," a
work which revealed lola In his true
colors. The story was as fateful. as
hideous, as fundamentally true as an
old Greek drama. II offended an age
which politely passed over the revolt
ing crimes. The remorse In the book
had an epic quality and was no more to
be forgotten than the sacrifice OF 1ph-
igenia or the fate OF Sisera, 1t was
the story Of a guilty wife and her lover
who permitted the drowning Of the
husband, and who then regarded each
other with alternating hours Of fren-
2ied love and Of suspicion, till they be-
held murder In each others eyes, and
each destroyed the other while an av-
aricious aunt who desired their for
tune-a bagatelle-beheld their depart
ing agonies.
The aversion with which the critical
world regarded this tale gave NJ. Zola
a certain celebrity. IL was as II a fire
breathing dragon, who could not be
slain. had arrived in the land He was
disgusting but invulnerable Tame
spoke out his disgust TO the academ-
icians with such vehemence that in all
the brilliant years that followed the
Forty could not become reconciled 20
Zola. and thus one Of the most prolific,
original and amazing literary creators
Of France had passed away without
recognition by the body Of Immortals.