The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-09-11
4OEI II HIdIAd I'd q 1huNJ G11.9lyJo al t.
4 THE SUN. SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER IL. 1904.


! minutes was Tame, who was then writing
, his "Histoire de Ia Literature Anglaise.
J zola Of course, received no help or en-
J oouragement in literary direction from,
the authors he met at Haohettes. for they
knew nothing Of his quill-driving proclivi-
ties Nearly all his spare time. however,
was given to writing. His zee Amour
euse' had been printed In an AK news
paper and he now Use3) secured the in
sertion Of a story called "Simplice" and
another called 'Le Sang" In the Revue
du Mois issued at Lille In 4Celle Qui
Maine touch of realism first appeared.
This tale was sent to villemessant for the
latter's journal, lie Figaro, but 1t was
declined with thanks" Equally unsuc-
cessful was another attempt to secure the
honors Of print for his poet, trilogy.
"LAmoureuse Comedie," in which "Paolo "
represented the paradise OF Iowa: 1L'A6-
risnne" the purgatory, and 'Rodolphe" the
hell. Although M. Hachette, however, was
not inclined to publish his poems, he spoke
to the young author about them In an en-
couraging way, raised his salary to 200
francs month and commissioned him to
write story for children for one OF his
periodicals,
Zola's circumstances having now i'm
proved. he sought more commodious
quarters, and took his mother to live with
him. In 1854, Hetzel and Lacroix agreed
to publish Zola's tales under the collective
title of "Contes Ninon.' without exacting
anything for the cost Of production; the
| author, however, was to receive no i'm
| mediate payment. The volume was issued
on Oct. "a, which became q red letter day
In Zola's life. Writing to a friend In the
following january, he told him that more
than half of the first edition (probably one
of 1 500 copies) had then been sold. More
over, the journalistic and literary work
which the book secured for him by making
him known inspirited him greatly, though
| he still remained al Hachettes. II Is
: pointed out by the biographers that while
more than one Of the "Contss Ninoh"
was poem in prose the author was already
being weaned from romance, fable and
idyl by the study Of Balzac, and especially
of Flauberts Madame Bovary," which
had been issued in 1850. The struggle,
nevertheless, between his reason and his
imagination was to last all his life, as Is
! evident from the oscillation observable
in his writings between realism and ro-
manticism. The realist appeared in Zola's
next book, La Confession de Claude,
! and in sundry newspaper articles. which,
like the Confession, were issued in 1855.
At this epoch Of his life. after working
| ten hours a day at Hachette's, the young
man on returning to his home would at
once begin to toll with his pom. Every
week he wrote an article Of from 100 to $50
! lines for the Petit Journal, and often
another running from 500 to 600 lines for
I the Sdim Public, then the chief organ Of
the Lyons press. The former newspaper
| paid him 20 francs for each article; the
! latter from so to go francs. Thus he now
/ 1885, earned on an average 200 francs a
month by his pen. As he was also receiv-
! ing 200 francs a month for clerical labor
/ from Hachette, his total monthly income
I was about $50 1t was also at this period
that he contributed a few short tales to the
! somewhat demimonddin periodical La Vie
! Pdrisienne, and that he wrote a one-act
+ comedy, la I.aide," which was sent to the
! Odeon Theatre. but was returned.
La Confession de Claude" which was
| vehemently assailed on the score OF in
decency. was altogether too outspoken for
! Zolas employers, and in january, $780,
| he quilted Hachettes to give himself up
! entirely to journalism and literature. He
| fell into the hands OF Villemessant. who
not long before had established lie FIJI
, caro-. Villemessant, who was a great be-
/ lever in novelty, was pleased with Zola's
proposal to contribute. under the title OF
Books OF To-day and Tomorrow"
| melange OF literary gossip, after the style Of
the theatrical gossip already current in the
Paris newspapers. Though publishers
! puifs had appeared here and there, no.
body had thought of doing for books and
writer's what many were doing for plays.
operas, actors and actresses. On Feb.
Zola's first installment OF literary gossip
, appeared in one OF Villemessant's news
papers, L'Epenemenf. In one important
respect his articles differed from the theatre
cal gossip of the time. Much Of the latter
was paid for by managers or performers,
whereas lola neither sought nor would
accept brides from authors or publishers,
but looked to L'Epenement for his en-
tire remuneration. No scale Of payment
had been arranged, and therefore when
at the end Of the month he called on the
cashier of the newspaper he was both
amazed and delighted to receive 500 francs.
Before the close OF 1896 Zola proposed
serial novel to Villemessant. who, after
examining a synopsis Of the suggested
narrative, accepted the offer, The story
which lola proceeded to write was called
lie Vau dune Morte," but it met with no
success, and after the first part had been
issued the publication was stopped. The
second part was never written, yet the
fragment was issued in book form, and has
recently been translated into English
lola himself always regarded it as the
very worst Of his productions. What a
wretched thing, my FRIEND he said OF
1t twenty years later. Nowadays young
men of eighteen turn out work ten times
superior in craftsmanship to what we pro-
duced when we were five and twenty
~.
As 1886 drew to an end. lola found his in
come declining. In spite Of every effort
he could now earn not more than an average
Of 800 francs a month. and his position on
villemessant's paper had become very pre-
carious He had tried once more In vain
to obtain foothold on the stage. with a
drama called La Madeleine" which was
rejected by both the Gymnase and the