The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-04-25
w. B. MAXWELL EXPLAINS,
ZOLAESQUE RESEMBLANCE

Mr Maxwell recently contributed an
Interesting letter 10 the London dthe-
nasi,n tn answer to an objection to Ger.
tain "reminiscences of lola In "The Devirs
GARDEN lie says;
II the matter appears to be OF SUN
eiont interest may ] be permitted to reply
10 the communication OF c. r. in las.
weeks Afhendcumf I will do so. as tho
ancien,s used to phrase 1t. with candor'
EVEN at the risk OF seeming egotistical
net mo say at once that the points of
resemblance bewcen the opening of The
ue,.rs Garden and that Of Zola's Bette
Humane are unqucstionable. and that
they are stated by q. r. with perfect nc
curacy except in regard to certain details
which arc of little moment. The reseu,,
blancc consists of the situation OF the two
principal characters at the beginning Of
the story. which causes the murder by a
husband OF the man who has dshonored
his wife Really that is all the essentia,
resemblance. This situation is of course
wha, one may call a life situation. he.
longing TO the realm OF ordinary facts
newspaper reports. common talk, and y
has probably been set forth in many
books besides the two at present under
discussion. For a long time I had had
I, jotted down in my notes as the ma.
terial OF a novel that was to be the study
Of a mans life after an undscovcrcd
was that the man was to be punished by
conscience, to be brought TO expiation by
the internal forces. although free from
the external peril Of the law. ! returned
10 my notes again and again. but could
never make anything OF II until about
two years ago 1t occurred to me that the
logical working out (the officially vaiu-
able working out II I may dare EMPLOY
no pompous a term) would be slowly to
screw the murderer around into the posi-
ton OF the man he had killed--or at least
make him believe he had got into the posi-
ton and thus deprive him OF the sense ~
Justification for the deed which had
hitherto upheld him. That seemed to
me real idea and It was. anyhow. sum-
cent 20 set me going and keep me going
straight ahead till the book was finished
But now as to the first jotting down Of
the situation. How. as the Judge said in
'Pickwick,' did II come on my notes
Was II an invention Gin the usual &C.
ceptance OF the word. as applied to the
arrangements or selections of fiction
wr,ters,, or was 1t memory of the
not the slightest doubt that II was the
latter. and not the former. I have not
only read Ioa's novel but had been
greatly impressed by 1t on reading It soon
after its first publication. and since then
had SKINNED through II. II not actually
rcfodO H. NJ least once FIRST impress
s!ons have therefore been kept alive. II
not wildly SO. and have no doubt II
was a revival OF them that guided my
notemak!ng pen when 1t jotted "A hint that
eventually resulted in the domestic up
heavals Of Mr.. and Mrs. Dale. II be-
yond their relations to one another there
are any further unessential details that
may recall the method. manner of han
ding in La Bette Humaine.' these too
were doubtless caused by that mockinr
voice of memory which announces itself
as Imagination. which habitually stimu-
lates the hot. eager accents of an in
splred prompting, and which the mos,
original writers have had rea son to dread
Ike the very devil.
and now. having frankly acknowl-
tdred any similarity that can exist. may
say that 1t is one that posse sses no i'm.
portance. that it could very easily have
been avoided had II been recognized
and that 1t cannot possibly detract from
The value of my book, IL indeed II has the