[AFFAIRE DREYFUS] ZOLA, Émile (1840-1902)

[AFFAIRE DREYFUS] ZOLA, Émile (1840-1902)

Autograph letter signed « Émile Zola » [to his publisher Eugène Fasquelle]
Paris, 5th February 1901, 1 p. n-8° on laid paper
Small stain on left margin (see scan)

Zola sent the last proofs of La Vérité en marche to his publisher and hurries him to launch the publication as soon as possible

« Mon cher ami, je vous envoie toute la Vérité en marche, définitivement corrigée, et il est inutile qu’on me renvoie de nouvelles épreuves. Seulement, avant de donner le bon à tirer, je vous prie de faire revoir avec soin mes dernières corrections.
Vous me ferez plaisir en activant le tirage le plus [vite] possible car, pour toutes les raisons que vous savez, il est désirable que nous paraissions tout de suite. Veuillez donc donner des ordres en conséquence.
Affectueusement
Émile Zola »

Commissioned by Émile Zola, La Vérité en marche brings together the main texts of the writer’s commitment to the Dreyfus affair, including the famous “J’accuse…!”, which appeared on the front page of the January 13, 1898 issue of the newspaper L’Aurore. Although Zola urged his publisher to publish the work as soon as possible, it should be remembered that the Senate had voted five weeks earlier an amnesty law protecting the military and civilian conspirators responsible for the plot against Dreyfus from any legal proceedings. The writer thus wishes, contrary to the law passed by the Senate, to influence public opinion as much as possible. Fasquelle respected Zola’s wishes since the work was published on February 16, the last published during the writer’s lifetime.