Arizona republican., 1902-10-21
ANECDOTES OF EMILE ZOLA.

| Zola used to feel rather bitter tow ards America. but not wholly because
 he got none of our dollars. He once wrote me that be had long ago aban- doned all hope of doing business with the United States,'' says a writer in
 the New York Evening Post. For
 many years I have been promised re-
 turns from the other side of the Allan tic, but so far I have net seen even the tail of anything. The only thing that is perfectly clear is, that they rob me
 Ia -bas-voila tout" Nor was his dis
 satisfaction with America due simply
 to the pirated editions of his books. He told me on one occasion that tales of which he never wrote line were foist- ed upon the American public as his.
 and, he added, 'I fear and trmble lest my enemies here bring them out in
 French dress. This would indeed be
 adding insult to injury" So when. in recent years, two respectable New York
 publishers issued authorized editions
 of some of his novels, Zola was much pleased, but not so much on account of
 the money which came to him as be-
 cause he felt that he was now in dig
 nified position in America. Consequent ly he was the more deeply wounded
 when. this past season, the proofs of his forthcoming story were declined both in New York and in Philadelphia. Zola was often even generous in mon-
 ey matters. I well remember the very delicate way in which he referred one day to a translator of one of his stories who had ''collared' (Zola used the equi- valent French slang word) two thous- and francs which a too-confiding pulp fisher had left with the translator for transmission to the novelist. II know
 he needs the money more than l do" Zola remarked; but if he is again se- lected to do the translating l must ask that moneys intended for me be not sent via that panier perce."
 After returning from his exile in Eng | land Zola was sorely in need of funds and I judged that then was the oppor- | tune moment to reinvite him to prepare | for a prominent periodical some essays
 which had been promised for a number
 of years. But, with the utter disregard
 for money which l ever found in him. he pleaded, always, that he was too
 busy on the novel then under way. | However-and this is the real reason
 I cite the incident-he was finally in
 duced to yield through curiosity to try
 plan which I laid before him in mos;
 eloquent terms, namely, dictating to a
 stenographer. He thought that perhaps
 he might find here a relief from the
 mechanical drudgery of composition, | but, I must confess, he was not very
 confident that such would be the case.
 And the result justified his mistrust. I | appeared early one morning at Zola's s
 house accompanied by an excellent stenographer and found the author
 awaiting us in his study with several | slips of paper in his hand covered with | topical notes. I soon left the two men alone, and the next day the stenog-
 rapher sent me the typewritten results
 of the mornings dictation. Tn the same
 post came a letter from Zola asking to
 see the copy, though, according to our
 original plan and in order not to con-
 sume more of the authors valuable time, he was willing to forego revision
 on the ground that as the article was | to appear in a foreign language, the | literary style of the original was im-
 material. But I, of course, hastened to
 comply with his request and, two days later. the manuscript came back to me
 so black with corrections, additions and
 erasures that a clean copy had to be
 made before it could be sent to the
 translator. Zola never again tried dic-
 tating.