EMILE ZOLA - A NOVELIST AND REFORMER - AN ACCOUNT OF HIS LIFE &
WORK by ERNEST ALFRED VIZETELLY. Originally published in 1904.
PREFACE: THIS book is an attempt to chronicle the chief incidents
in the life of the late fimile Zola, and to set out the various
aims he had in view at different periods of a career which was one
of the most strenuous the modern world has known. Virtually all his
work is enumerated in the following pages, which, though some are
given to argument and criticism, will be found crowded with facts.
The result may not be very artistic, but it has been partially my
object to show what a tremendous worker Zola was, how incessantly,
how stubbornly, he practised the gospel which he preached. An
attempt has been made also to show the growth of humani tarian and
reforming passions in his heart and mind, passions which became so
powerful at last that the novelist in Zola seemed as nothing. Yet I
do not think I can be charged with having neglected the literary
side of his career. It is that which bulks most largely in the
present volume, and that I think is as it should be for while Zola
was certainly, and in some respects essentially, a Reformer, the
pen was the weapon with which he strove to effect his purposes.
Designed more particularly for British and American readers, the
book contains some passages which I should have abbreviated omitted
perhaps if I had been addressing a French audience. And some
subjects, which, in that case, I might have treated more fully,
have here been dealt with briefly. For instance, though I have
enumerated all the plays that Zola wrote, and most of those founded
by others on his works, I have not entered into any real discussion
of his viewsrespecting the stage, or of his indirect influence on
it in France. I have thought it sufficient to indicate that such
influence was exercised. A full examination of Zolas relations with
the stage would have materially increased the length of a work
which is long already, and which I have been anxious to keep within
the scope of one volume a desire which has made my task more
difficult than it would have been had I used my materials in all
their fulness. But I am distinctly of opinion that biographies in
several volumes have nowadays little chance of surviving, even for
a moderate number of years. With respect to Zolas share in the
Dreyfus case everybody will recognise, I think, how difficult it is
to narrate the doings of any one individual in such an intricate
mtUe without constant reference to the other combatants and
explanation of the many points at issue. Nevertheless, though I
fully recognise that the deliverance of Captain Dreyfus was not
effected by Zola only, that many other able and whole-hearted men
co-operated in that great achievement, have endeavoured to
disentangle Zolas share in the battle from that of the others,
saying of them only what has seemed to me strictly necessary to
explain his actions. I mention this in order that none may think me
unjust towards Zolas fellow-fighters. And though in some
introductory pages I have endeavoured to indicate the primary
causes of the Affair, such as I think them to have been, in the
hope that the reader may be better able to understand the fury of
the fray, I have not plunged into a discussion of the Affair
itself. Besides, M. Dreyfuss case is now once more before the Cour
de Cassation, and reserve on a variety of matters hastherefore
become advis able. Further, for some years already, a far abler pen
than mine, wielded by one of far greater authority, M...
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