New-York tribune., 1908-04-04
ZOLA.
HIS Character as Rerealed an His
Letters.

Letters.
Paris March 2s.
propitious moment has been chosen by the
Bibliotheque Charpentier for the publication of
the second volume of the late Emile Zola's
respondence. His personality is once more the
subject of violent discussion in the French press
1t has formed the theme of abusive diatribe
by NJ Maurice Barres in the Chamber. 1t has
! suggested TO the Due de Montebello the grand
son of Marshal Lannes, who was killed at Ess-
ling that the remains of the famous Napoleonic
hero would be desecrated by the propinquty Of
Zola's corpse. and the Due has therefore
quested permission from the government to re-
inter the body Of Marshal Lannes in the ceme-
terry of Pere Lachaise. where the MontebellOs
have a family vault. All this is very sad. Po-
litical passions in France have ever run high,
but one has to go back to the early days Of the
revolution 10 find parallel instances of party
sauabbling over dead bodies Mrabeau and
Marar were inferred with great pomp at the
Pantheon. but when popular feeling turned
against their memories their sepulchres were
Gesecrated and the bones Of Marat were flung
into the gutter, while what became Of those OF
Mira beau has never been clearly ascertainable
The "pantheonization" of Zoa, they call It
here and the angry disputes which have arisen
over II have nevertheless revived interest in his
work at a moment when its popularity was suf-
fering from that first period of forgetfulness
which always affects writer Immediately after
his death That this partial eclipse was inev-
liable ZoIa himself seems to have surmised for
in one Of the letters in the first volume he ex-
presses the belief that his full value will only be
APPRECIATED a century or so after his death, when
the critics will again discover him and recog
I nize the high moral aim OF his work" At pres
ent the wind is blowing hard in the opposite di-
rection at least from the point of view Of Zola's
Place in literature.
The passages in his correspondence which de-
scribe his methods of composition full Of in
terest. In letter dated September, 1891 10 J.
van Santen Kolff he gives the following details
Of the genesis Of La Debace," the novel in
which the Franco -Prussian war figured as
background painted in colors so Iurid as 10 have
given deep offence TO the French army. He
says:
AS always I wanted to have all the war. al
though my central episode was sedan I mean by
the battles the panics the retreats the peasants
In their attitude toward the French and the @ Prls
slams the francs-tireurs the middle class ihilaD- %
itants Of the towns the Satf IG aiI
IfneS series f portant incidents that took
place in 1870 And you well imagine that It
! aIy-avs have as we say, eyes bigger than my
belly. When commence subject want GnI1 to nTiqg
ca1sei bv NV desire for the enormous and the
the work into three parts of eight chapters each
AS 20 my pTepara{{cEy Stuules g,t the m 6laces
which I SHAH have 10 describe, the reading OF ail
numerous and finally long conversations with the
authors OF the drama, whom have pee1 aDIe 20 20
Ia Debace" When the was declared there
were IN me o nBera1 nr6pfessors even among the old
PROFESSORS who had lost their situations, people
often highly educated who had not been enlist ed
being exempt from military service but VINO had
% note6 down W their impressions and their ad
ventures in little note books nave ha1 nve I'VE 0r OF
manuscript either the originals or copies, and one
I or two printed. what was prhclpalIy ,t N
the reality lived They were all alike. There
was an absolute generality Of impression in them them
was given me by these note books
In the earlier volume of his correspondence
zoIa more than once adopted a tone of extreme
pessfsrlisrn with respect to his own future. In
a letter to Cezanne the impressionist painter
when both were very young men, Zola writes;
think of the future and it looks so black, SO
black that I recoi in terror. No private income
no profession, nothing but encouragement; ~, no
one 10 lean 40 wife. no friend near me. E.Very 1
where indifference or eontempt dns Is & wha I Pre- ire
horizon this Is what MAKES MAKES me- SO rbere are
everything, and princip4y illySsli. T iii
gence, and ask myse4- what am worm 70 nave ave
such glorious creams Lan sneak good French, am
fsro+aI''+ of everything. My school education can
bs of little use to me-a little theory and no prac-
ice If I had no family, and possessed a nlodest
smTn should retire to a howell in the country and
- there as hermit. The world is not busI-
ness I shall cut q sad figure there If ever go
inro it, on the other hand, shall never pecone
q millionaire. money is nT my element 80 ali
desire is tranquility and modest competence But
tbat too is a dream l around me only sIrue-
eI~s or rather / see nothing distinctly. 90 nor
En0uy where I am going, and il is with fear that
nIr foot down. knowing that the route WHICH
| have to traverse is bordeTed with precpiees
Later in life Zola modestly eager TO
DESTROY the exaggerated legends which had been
err1u around him as to his powers OF work and
his intellectual gifts. In a letter 10 DR.. g
Sa Paul he says:
When I was a child | had a good scholarly
memory had the prize for memory ALREADY
a. +i1af eDocb I worked without much zeal doing
iusf the necessary, and nothing more tfaN ing
got to class. l set myself TO my task with uIle
desire To finish il as quickly as possible ana 10
d. rottjng more NY memory was then
what is II to-day It filled rapidly. greedlly,
then it discharged Itself. 1t is sponge which
urbich dracs everything along with Il, and whose
waters quickly lose themselves In a sand pailk
l have an excellent visual memory, out
n do not look at things with the wish 10 re-
tajn Them nothing remains Elected president
20 tbe Societk des Gems de LettTcs. IL took me
tbe twenty-four members OF the committee
Nv visual souvenirs have an eXtfaofdi-
nary mower and relief. My memory Is enormous,
rrodfgious: il gets in my way When ] evoke
lie affects that / have seen l see them all again
xz they really are, with their lines. their forms.