New-York tribune., 1902-02-12
NJ. ZOLA CORRECTED.
THE BEAUCE PEASANTRY PROTEST
AGAINST HIS DESCRIPTION OF
THEM IN LA TERRE."
Paris, January 2S.

Ia ieITS, Ine realistic manner IN which II is
staged and. above all. the grewsome feat
ures and bestiaI gestures with which NJ
Antoine in his impersonation OF lie pere
Fouan" accentuates NJ. Zola's forcible image
Of the aged French peasant. have called forth
A general protest that VI. Zola has been guilty
or malicious exaggeration in his portraiture Of
French village life Whenever NJ Zola writes
novel he always studies his subject by means
of human documents, and the human document
which he utilized for La Terre" was the little
commune Of CIoyes, not far from Orleans. in
the heart Of the fertile Beauce country, about
hundred miles southwest Of Paris. In order
10 test the truthfulness Of NJ Zola's conceptions
of the French peasantry a correspondent of the
'Eclair" was sent 10 Romilly to investigate
matters Cloyes is picturesque village OF
about two thousand inhabitants. Sixteen years
ago NJ Zola resided there for few months
incognito. taking notes and studying character
As it would be rather naive 10 ask the peasants
whether they resembled the unfiattering por-
traits presented by NJ. Zola the Partisan report
er questioned the mayor. the priest. the notary
and the village doctor. All who read La Terre''
and especially those who have seen II acted at the
Theatre Antoine would be justified in expecting
10 hnd at Cioyes nest of brutal. avaricious
criminals and ne'er 90 wells. Shall We find at
'loyes the old Fouan. robbed and driven TO
despair by his ungrateful children? Shall We
ma there Buteau- beating his aged father
after having stolen his money? Shall we find
the drunken depravity Of the character TO whom
NJ Zola has. with blasphemous i'll taste given
the most sacred of names? Shall we find such
types as the female fury La Grande as the
vixen Fanny or as the deplorabIe FRANCHISE?
The Partisan Journalists first visit was the
mayor. II. Mudemain, formerly the village
schoolmaster. who had raised four generations
Of peasants. The mayor said that he was by
no means enemy of NJ. Zola. and admitted
having read many excellent works written by
him But" said the mayor. g La Terre' is
decidedly inaccurate far as the inhabitants
of Cloyes are concerned. It would have mat
tered little had not NJ ZoIa pretended in La
Terre' TO symbolic class in each of his per
sonages- If BUteau. for instance had been
merely q character in the novel or in the play
with our village merely as q sort of framework
should have been Indifferent But NJ Zola
puts our Beauce peasantry on a sort of pedestal
and points out to the whole world with the
remark: There they are; look them and
Judge them, NJ. Zols has deforned the char
acters he studied here by malicious exaggera-
tion instead of analysis. it is calumny Any
thing similar 10 the ignoble scene where by her
sisters completely Francoise is her brother-in-
laws victim. and which NJ. Zola states to be
authentic, is unknown here. Then, again. where
did NJ. Zola find that atrocious scene where
Fouan is robbed. beaten, and burned to death
by his children2 Nothing of the sort has ever
happened anywhere near here. Why. 1t was
only the other day that buried here the very
whom NJ. Zola had taken as his model for
the character of Fouan. His real name was
Philippe. His son-in-law had squandered his
modest property, and his daughter had been
obliged to work hard to make both ends meet.
But the old man? Did they cast him out of
doors almost naked. TO die, because he was no
longer any use to them? Not a bit OF it!
The daughter took good care of him, and when
he died he had decent funeral, and the vii
lage folk were affected at seeing the daughter
shed tears at the old mans grave. A few
weeks ago some agents of the Theatre Antoine
came down here and bought up a quantity of
old clothes that had been worn by the peasants
for which they paid the round sum of 800
francs"
The next visit was made to the priest who
was found at his class, teaching geography to a
dozen rosy faced children The priest said that
on the whole. Cloyes contained a happy popu-
lation. and that NJ. Zola had been unfair to the
whole community. There is occasional intem-
perance, but not in excess. The women were
hard working and virtuous but wine was to
virtue dangerous counsellor; nevertheless the
sum total Of the domestic scandals of Cloyes
not alarming.
Dr. Grillere, the village physician, said that
M Lola was quite right In representing the
Beauce peasants as greedy and avaricious but
they were honest. Robbery and theft Were
very rare with them. Indeed" said the doctor.
Il have frequently received visits from peas
ants who came with silver coins in their old
leather purses, TO call attention to errors in
my bills. made to my disadvantage"
Maftre Pichaud. the village notary chatted
pleasantly with the Partisan reporter seated
in the dingy little study described so ninutely
in the second chapter OF the novel and forming
the scene Of the first act of the drama. Maitre
Pichaud said that his predecessors had occu-
pied the premises since 1852, and that the deed
by means of which Fouan settled his property
his children copied verbatim by NJ
ZoIa from instrument made and executed
in his office. THE author of La Terre'" said
the notary, lis too hard upon our village folk
He exaggerates their vices and is very unjust
Several instances have occurred where an old
peasant divides his farm among his children
but during fifty years in no case has such an
act led the children who entered in possession
to commit robbery murder and they have
Invariably paid the with exemplary regu-
larity."
To sum up. the investigation made on the
spot shows that the village folk Of Cloyes re-
pudiate their portraiture as presented by NJ.
Emile Zola in La Terre," and the patriarchal
mayor. the genial priest the kind hearted viii
lage doctor and the thrifty notary all unite in
protesting against the injustice done them by
the famous novelist. II may be fair to assume
that Balzac would have been equitable.
and that, had the author Of the "Comede
Humane" made special study OF Cloyes and
its inhabitants. il is probable that the good
qualities would not have been altogether ig-
nored. bat would have been served up with