ZOLA, Émile (1840-1902)

ZOLA, Émile (1840-1902)

Autograph letter signed « Emile Zola » to a colleague
Paris, 12th November [18]93, 1 p. 1/2 in-8°
Usual fold marks, some tiny spots

Magnificent Letter Written at the Conclusion of the Rougon-Macquart Saga

ZOLA’S BYGONE PASSIONS

« Mon cher confrère,
Je ne préfère aucune de mes œuvres. Dans chacune, j’aime mieux certaines pages, celles où j’ai dit nettement ce que je voulais dire : voilà tout.
Lorsque j’ai terminé un livre et que je l’ai donné au public, il n’existe plus pour moi. Toute ma passion tombe, et j’en commence un autre, pour lequel je me passionne, jusqu’à ce qu’il soit aux autres. Il faut que je fasse un effort, lorsque je veux me souvenir des romans, hélas ! trop nombreux que j’ai écrits. Ce sont comme des tombes de parents et d’amis, autrefois bien chers, sur lesquelles il me serait trop triste d’aller m’attendrir.
Cordialement à vous.
Emile Zola »

The Rougon-Macquart saga comes to an end with the publication, by Charpentier, of Le Docteur Pascal in the spring of 1893. Already very popular at the time of their release, most of the novels in the cycle soon entered the realm of legend. Among the most famous are Germinal, Nana, and L’Assommoir. In total, twenty novels were written and published between 1870 and 1893. Zola is here most likely responding to a fellow journalist wishing to write an article on the entire saga and on what it represents in the eyes of the novelist.

A summary of the letter and the quotation of a single sentence were published in volume VIII of the correspondence, based on an excerpt from a catalogue:
“This is like the graves of parents and friends […]”. This comparison aptly conveys the sadness that emanates from this moving statement and what Zola’s works represent to Zola himself. Whether understood as a personification of the books or as a metonymy designating the characters to whom the author gave life, the “graves” naturally refer to death. And if, when one loses a parent or a friend, one loses a part of oneself, then what does it mean to lose the parents and friends of twenty novels?