Maupassant and Huysmans, afterwards rose to eminence, visited Zola and
talked "literature" with him, even as on Sundays he and they visited
Gustave Flaubert. The latter, amid all the hubbub and controversy
provoked by "L'Assommoir," felt that Zola was going too far, at least
farther than he, Flaubert, would have gone. He always underrated his
own realism--or naturalism, if one prefer that term--as displayed
in "Madame Bovary," as well as his own philosophy, outlined in
"L'Education sentimentale" and "La Tentation de St. Antoine"; and if
Zola's account of him be accurate, his one ambition was to be known and
remembered as a stylist, a master of impeccable French. He even denied
that "Madame Bovary" marked any evolution in fiction, he shut his eyes
to the deductions which others drew from it, and thus, when he found
himself confronted by Zola's venturesome theories, he was at first at
a loss to account for them. In one sense his astonishment was amusing:
it suggested the surprise of the cause at the sight of so remarkable
an effect. But if he twitted Zola about his naturalist professions of
faith he did so, as Goncourt observes, "avec de très grands coups de
chapeau" for he fully recognised the ability of the man who claimed
to be his disciple. One thing which he did not like was the eagerness
with which Zola accepted controversy and proclaimed his doctrines
on all possible occasions, for this seemed to be too suggestive of
self-advertisement.
Zola, however, replied very naturally, frankly, and boldly, that he,
Flaubert, possessed a small fortune and was therefore able to disregard
all sorts of considerations, whereas he, Zola, had been obliged to earn
his living by his pen and undertake at times all kinds of writing, even
contemptible work. "What I write," he added, "may be divided into two
parts. There are my books by which I am judged, and by which I desire
to be judged, and there are my critical notices in 'Le Bien Public,'
my Russian articles, and my correspondence for Marseilles which I
regard as of no account, which I reject, and which I only undertake in
order to help on my books. I first placed a nail in position and with
the stroke of a hammer I drove it half an inch into the brain of the
public, then with a second blow I drove it in an inch. Well, my hammer
is the newspaper work which I myself do round my own books."[23]
Nothing could have been more frank than this, not even his remark on
the same occasion--in reply evidently to some criticism of Flaubert's,
which Goncourt does not exactly specify,--that he cared not a rap
for the word "naturalism," and yet intended to repeat it, because
things required christening in order that the public might regard
them as new.[24] In all this one traces the determination to succeed
at any cost, the fighting spirit which had prompted Zola to write to
Antony Valabrègue, more than ten years previously, that he belonged
to an impatient age, that if he did not trample others under foot
they would pass over him, and that he did not desire to be crushed by
fools. Thus, whatever might be his contempt for the weapons of his
time--advertisement and pushfulness--he readily made use of them,
feeling that if he neglected to do so, amid all the stress, all the
fierce competition around him, he might well go under and fail to
reach the goal, in spite of the talent of which he was conscious. The
battle of the age was the keenest there had ever been, a man could only
triumph by incessantly thrusting himself forward, and Zola, for his
part, did so without hesitation.
[1] Zola's "Documents Littéraires," p. 178.
[2] "Journal des Goncourt," Vol. IV, p. 44.
[3] "Le Ventre de Paris," Paris, Charpentier, 1873, 2 editions, 18mo,
362 pages; 3d edition, 1876, 18mo, 358 pages. From this point all the
volumes of the ordinary edition of "Les Rougon-Macquart" were priced
at 3 francs 50 centimes. The forty-seventh thousand of "Le Ventre de
Paris" (Charpentier edition) was on sale in 1903. There is also an
edition illustrated with wood engravings. Paris, Flammarion, n. d.
large 8vo.
[4] Alphonse Daudet's "Trente ans de Paris," 1888. There are numerous
discrepancies in the accounts which Daudet, Zola, and Goncourt have
left of some of these dinners; but the author has endeavoured to give a
general idea of them.
[5] "Journal des Goncourt," Vol. V, p. 173.
[6] Zola's "Les Romanciers Naturalistes," p. 181.
[7] Alexis mentions among the frequent visitors whom he met there:
François Coppée, Catulle Mendès, Maurice Bouchor, Philippe Burty, J. K.
Huysmans, Henri Céard, Marius Roux, Léon Hennique, Bergerat, Toudouze,
Dr. Pouchet, and Charpentier, the publisher. At intervals came Taine,
Renan, Maxime Ducamp, and Maurice Sand.
[8] "La Conquête de Plassans," 1st and 2d editions: Paris, Charpentier,
1874, 18mo, 406 pages; 3d edition, 1876, 402 pages; thirty-fourth
thousand on sale in 1903.
[9] See _ante_, p. 144.
[10] This was a play called "Le Sexe Faible," which Flaubert had
agreed to supply to the Théâtre de Cluny, but before doing so he read
it to his intimates, who gave it so unfavourable a reception that he
renounced all idea of having it performed.
[11] Alexis, _l. c._, p. 139.
[12] "Nouveaux Contes à Ninon," 1st and 2d editions, Paris,
Charpentier, 1874, 18mo, 311 pages, 3d edition, 1877; new editions
containing the Rougon-Macquart genealogical tree, in 1878 and 1881; new
edition, including 14 tales and sketches, in 1885 _et seq._; ditto,
32mo, with 2 etchings, 1885; Conquet's edition, etched frontispiece and
30 vignettes, 2 vols., sm. 8vo, 1886.
[13] "La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret," 1st, 2d, 3d, and 4th editions, Paris,
Charpentier, 1875, 18mo, 432 pages; 5th and 6th editions, 1876; 7th,
428 pages, 1877; fifty-second thousand on sale in 1903. Of late years
eighty thousand copies have been sold of an illustrated edition in the
"Collection Guillaume."
[14] "La Cour à Compiègne, Confidences d'un Valet de Chambre," Paris,
Librairie du Petit Journal, 1866. 18mo, 303 pages. In E. A. Vizetelly's
introduction to the English version of "Son Excellence Eugène Rougon"
("His Excellency," London, Chatto, and New York, Macmillan, 1897 _et
seq._), it is stated in error that the articles first appeared in "Le
Figaro," whereas it was the latter's companion-print, "L'Événement,"
which issued them.
[15] "Journal des Goncourt," Vol. V, p. 190 (March 7, 1875).
[16] "Journal des Goncourt," Vol V, p. 202 (April 25, 1875).
[17] In "Le Forgeron" one will find the first idea of Goujet of
"L'Assommoir"; while "Mon voisin Jacques" is the original of Bazouge,
the mute.
[18] Alexis, _l. c._, p. 109.
[19] A little later it was issued in book form: "Son Excellence Eugène
Rougon," Paris, Charpentier, 1876, 18mo, 466 pages. The demand was
smaller than that for the previous volume, "La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret";
and in 1903 only the thirty-sixth thousand was on sale.
[20] From £1,000 to £1,200, or from about $5,000 to $6,000.
[21] "L'Assommoir," Paris, Charpentier, 1877, 18mo, 573 pages;
one hundred and twenty-seventh thousand on sale in 1893 when the
Rougon-Macquart series was completed; one hundred and fifty-first
thousand reached in 1903. Illustrated edition: Paris, Marpon and
Flammarion, 1878, large 8vo, title, 466 pages, with 62 wood engravings
after Gill, Clairin, Leloir, etc. Issued originally in parts (see
above), the volume was priced at 6 francs. It has been frequently
reprinted.
[22] To the information given above it may be added that Alexis's first
noteworthy work was a play, "Celle qu'on n'épouse pas" (Gymnase, 1879)
followed by "La Fin de Lucie Pellegrin," a novel, 1880. Maupassant's
first prose volume was "La Maison Tellier," 1881, following one of
verses, 1880. Céard's first novel was "Une Belle Journée," 1880; and
Hennique's "La Dévonée," 1878. Both the latter as well as Alexis may be
best classed as playwrights, their later and principal literary work
having been done for the stage. Like Maupassant and Huysmans, however,
they contributed with Zola to "Les Soirées de Medan," 1880, which will
be noticed in its proper place.
[23] "Journal des Goncourt," Vol. V, pp. 314-315.
[24] It is probable that Flaubert had questioned the novelty of
"Naturalism."
VII
THE ADVANCE OF NATURALISM
1877-1881
"Une Page d'Amour"--The portrayal of Love--Zola buys a house
at Médan--His play, "Le Bouton de Rose"--He is accused of
stealing the plot of "Une Page d'Amour"--He attacks contemporary
French novelists--Opinions of Feuillet and Dumas _fils_ on
Zola--"The Republic and Literature"--Zola and the Legion of
Honour--Flaubert and "Bouvard"--A Cabinet Council negatives the
decoration of Zola--"L'Assommoir" as a play--Zola and Mr. George
Moore--The effect of affluence on Zola--The transformation of
Médan--Zola's studies--Humanitarianism enters into his literary
conceptions--Scientific fiction and its aim--Preparations for
"Nana"--La Païva--The courtesans of the Second Empire--"Nana" is
published in "Le Voltaire"--The facial mask of small-pox--"Nana" as
a book--Idealism and Naturalism: attractive and repulsive vice--"Les
Soirées de Médan"--Maupassant's "Boule de Suif"--Hereditary insanity
and strong passions--Death of Gustave Flaubert--Zola's essay on
Flaubert--Death of Zola's mother--His campaign in "Le Figaro"--His
attack on Hugo's "L'Ane"--He assails Gambetta--His article on "Drunken
Slaves" and defence of "L'Assommoir"--"Nana" as a play--Léontine Massin
plays Nana in real life as well as on the stage--Zola's "Romanciers
Naturalistes," "Documents Littéraires," "Naturalisme au Théâtre" and
"Auteurs Dramatiques"--His life of unflagging industry.
At an early period of the controversies provoked by _"L'Assommoir,"_
that is when its publication had been transferred to "Le Bien Public,"
Zola quitted Paris for L'Estaque, a tiny village nestling below
precipitous mountains on the shore of the Golfe des Crottes, beyond
which spreads the Mediterranean, with the various islands, including
the Château d'If of "Monte Cristo," which mark the approach to the
port of Marseilles. In this quiet retreat, where life among the
tunny-fishers was rather primitive, the novelist began to write "Une
Page d'Amour," which he had planned before leaving Paris. Edmond de
Goncourt mentions an amusing discussion started by Zola, apropos of
this book, at a dinner given to Tourgeneff, who was leaving for Russia.
Love, in Zola's opinion, did not master one so absolutely as some
pretended; and, said he, phenomena similar to those which might be
observed in love were also to be found in friendship and patriotism.
For his part, he had never been madly in love, and therefore found it
difficult to depict such a state of things in others. Flaubert and
Goncourt admitted a similar incapacity, arising from the same cause,
and it was agreed that the only one of the party whom experience might
have qualified to portray the great passion adequately, was Tourgeneff,
who, however, was unfortunately deficient in the necessary critical
sense.
The question whether Zola's portrayal of love in "Une Page d'Amour" was
adequate is certainly open to doubt, and whatever the power and beauty
of the book's pictures of Paris, as viewed from the Trocadéro, at
sunrise, at sundown, at night, in a storm, and under the snow, one may
demur to the often expressed opinion that they were the best he ever
limned. They doubtless cost him an effort, but after the great labour
which the writing of "L'Assommoir" had involved, "Une Page d'Amour,"
with its few characters and its narrow scope of action, was almost a
restful book. It should be observed, indeed, that Zola seldom penned
two great panoramic works in succession. His own explanation of the
course he took in writing such comparatively quiet books as "Une Page
d'Amour," "La Joie de Vivre" and "Le Rêve" between works of crowded
incident like "L'Assommoir," "Nana," "Germinal," "La Terre," and "La
Bête Humaine," was that he wished to diversify his series as much as
possible; but it is also certain that he often found it necessary to
husband his energies, to allow himself breathing time, as it were,
between two great efforts.
He spent some months at L'Estaque writing "Une Page d'Amour," and on
returning to Paris late in the autumn of 1877, enriched as he was
by the sales of "L'Assommoir," he removed his home to a handsome
third-floor flat, 23, Rue de Boulogne. Then, while searching the
environs of Paris for a country _pied-à-terre_, a convenient retreat
for the following summer--when the first great Exhibition since the
Franco-German War was to be held in Paris--he came upon a little house
which took his fancy. It stood on the verge of the village of Médan,
which overlooks the Seine, beyond Poissy. Zola merely wished to rent
it, but the owner desired a purchaser, not a tenant, and in the end
the novelist bought the little place for nine thousand francs.[1] A
few weeks later, says Alexis, builders, painters, and upholsterers
were turned into the house to repair and fit it for occupation, and
for several years they remained busy there on the various enlargements
which followed and the other work which became necessary.
Already in 1876, having acquired by his contributions to "Le Bien
Public" what may be at least called a conspicuous position as a
dramatic critic of very absolute views, Zola, still hankering for
theatrical success, had written a farce called "Le Bouton de Rose"
intended for the Palais Royal Theatre. At the beginning of 1877 the
parts were distributed, and some rehearsals even took place; then,
however, the success of the work seeming doubtful, it was postponed;
and Zola himself, somewhat diffident as to its merit, at last decided
to withdraw it altogether. But early in 1878 the great uproar
occasioned by "L'Assommoir" inspired the directors of the Palais Royal
Theatre with a fresh desire to stage this play by a man whose name was
now on everybody's lips. They urged him to consent, and he ultimately
did so, making various alterations which the directors deemed to be
advisable. The play was then rehearsed again, and both the managers
and the actors, now as sanguine as they had previously been doubtful,
imagined that it would prove a triumph. But at the first performance
(May 6, 1878) the audience, after receiving the first act with favour,
became angry during the second, and hissed the third freely. In vain
did Geoffroy, the leading comedian, endeavour to announce the author's
name according to usage; such a tremendous din arose when he appeared
before the footlights, that he was unable to make himself heard.
Meantime Zola, in the slips, was saying to the crestfallen directors:
"You see I was right. You insisted on staging the piece in spite of me.
Your earlier decision to drop it was the better one."
In accordance with custom, he had arranged to celebrate the first
performance by a supper at Véfour's. In a sense the repast was a
funereal one, though it proved by no means doleful, for Zola took
the failure of his play right cheerfully, merely regretting that he
would now have to modify the order of the work which he had proposed
to undertake that year. Had "Le Bouton de Rose" been successful, he
had intended to begin another play, based on his novel "La Curée,"
but that would now have to wait while he started on the next novel of
his series. Some days later, when dining at M. Charpentier's, he told
Goncourt that the failure of "Le Bouton de Rose" made him feel quite
young again. The success of "L'Assommoir" had unnerved him, whereas
he now seemed to have got back to his twentieth year. He needed to be
imbued with an angry fighting spirit, said he, in order to write the
many volumes which were required to complete his Rougon-Macquart series.
"Une Page d'Amour" was about this time issued serially by "Le Bien
Public," whose readers took it more quietly than they had taken
"L'Assommoir"; but when it appeared as a volume[2] Zola was accused
of having stolen his plot from a novel called "Les Amours d'un Homme
Laid," by a Madame Berton, _née_ Samson. It may be said at once that
there are several points of resemblance between the plots of these
stories. A young widow, a doctor, and a sickly child are prominent
characters in both. At the same time there is great difference of
treatment, and Zola, on hearing of the accusation, which first emanated
from a journal called "La Paix Sociale," at once wrote to it: "I
have never read Madame Berton-Samson's story, and until to-day I was
ignorant of the existence both of the author and of the work."
To an unprejudiced person it may well seem that the similarity existing
between his story and Madame Berton's was due solely to the long arm of
coincidence. But of course his enemies asserted that he lied. According
to them he was always lying: and indeed everything he wrote, from the
time of attaining any prominence, was denounced as being wholly or in
part plagiarism. Even "L'Assommoir" was alleged to be merely a crib
from Denis Poulot's "Le Sublime";[3] and, briefly, his adversaries
would not allow that he was possessed of a single spark of originality.
At this time (1878) he had so many irons in the fire, as the saying
goes, that it is difficult to follow his work in strict chronological
order. We find him preparing his novel "Nana," collecting materials
for it, devising its plot; penning theatrical criticisms for "Le Bien
Public," contributing to "Le Voltaire"; planning with Messrs. Busnach
and Gastineau a dramatic version of "L'Assommoir"; and writing a
series of papers, chiefly on "Les Romanciers Naturalistes," for the
"Viestnik Yevropi" of St. Petersburg. One of those papers, a general
_critique_ of contemporary French novelists, their methods and their
abilities, was a slashing and in some respects unjust onslaught on all
who did not conform to the tenets of the Naturalist school. It was
published by the Russian review in September (1878), and a month later
was denounced by a Swiss periodical, "La Bibliothèque Universelle,"
which gave a _résumé_ of its contents. Such, however, was then the
"insularity" of France with respect to literary happenings abroad, that
December arrived before a Parisian journal, "Le Figaro," discovered
the obnoxious paper and proceeded to rate its author. This it did in
its most virulent style, borrowing for the occasion a variety of slang
epithets from the pages of "L'Assommoir." And as a crowning stroke
Zola was accused of arrant cowardice. He did not dare to attack his
contemporaries in the French language and in a French journal, it was
said; he sought a foreign country and a foreign tongue for his venomous
outpourings.
His reply to this accusation was characteristic. He offered "Le
Figaro" the original French manuscript of his article--which differed
in many respects from the _résumé_ issued by the Swiss review--and
"Le Figaro," which had denounced some of his remarks as unprintable,
speedily inserted the entire paper in its literary supplement.[4] The
uproar in literary circles then became terrific. Among those whom Zola
assailed were Hector Malot, Ferdinand Fabre, Octave Feuillet, Victor
Cherbuliez, Edmond About, Louis Ulbach, Erckmann-Chatrian, Paul Féval,
Jules Claretie, and Léon Cladel; and it was pointed out that the only
writers whom he praised or spared were those whose works were issued
by his own publisher, M. Charpentier! Of course, said the quidnuncs,
he must have been paid for this service; M. Charpentier could not have
given him less than ten thousand francs for his article, though if M.
Calmann-Lévy, for instance, had offered him twenty thousand, he would
doubtless have written up that publisher's writers instead of abusing
them.
As already mentioned, the article in question was in some measure
unjust, for it assumed _a priori_ that only the Naturalist school of
fiction was entitled to live; but at the same time it contained some
sound criticism. Nobody nowadays would deny the proposition that Hector
Malot, in whom at one time many hopes had centred, never produced a
really great book; that Jules Claretie also, in spite of his many
undoubted gifts, never rose above the second rank as a novelist, that
Cladel rendered himself ridiculous by the affectation of his style, and
that men like About and Feuillet had greatly declined at the period
when Zola wrote. But, naturally enough, these, and all the others whom
he named, disliked to be told to their faces that they had always been
or had become inferior men; and thus no little wrath was kindled in
many directions. There was, however, one man who not only showed no
resentment but unhesitatingly acknowledged his own great admiration for
Zola's work. And this, strange as it may seem, was Octave Feuillet, who
freely expressed himself in that sense both to his friend, Adrien Marx,
and to the present writer. The latter had occasion to call upon him
with respect to one of his last books, and, some general conversation
on literary matters supervening, Feuillet mentioned Zola, saying that
he had at first found it almost impossible to read the writings of the
Naturalist master, but having forced himself to do so, his feeling of
repulsion had departed, leaving sympathy and admiration in its place.
Another famous writer whom Zola attacked even more bitterly than he
attacked Feuillet, one with whom he had many a literary duel--Alexandre
Dumas _fils_--also ended by expressing very kindly sentiments. "My
literary standpoint," he said to the present writer, "is not the same
as Zola's. On some matters no agreement between us is possible. But he
is a strong man; and," added Dumas bluffly, with a momentary flash of
the paternal manner, "what I particularly like about him is his damned
frankness."[5] Later, when Zola became a candidate for the French
Academy, Dumas _fils_ was one of his most consistent supporters.[6]
Jules Claretie also evinced an equally forgiving disposition.
As for Zola, his literary views certainly became more liberal as
he grew older; but at the period one has now reached he was in his
most arbitrary and dogmatic mood, going so far as to suggest in a
pamphlet that each _régime_ must have its appropriate literature, that
Naturalist literature alone was suited to the Republic, and that the
Republic itself must prove Naturalist, or otherwise would assuredly
collapse. "By Naturalism," said he, "I mean analytical and experimental
methods based on facts and human documents. There must be agreement
between the social movement, which is the cause, and literature, which
is the effect. If the Republic, blind as to itself, and failing to
understand that it exists by the force of a scientific formula, should
begin to persecute that formula in literature, this would be a sign
that the Republic is not ripe for facts, and that it must once again
give place to one, that is dictatorship."[7]