" But in general,
that which Zola's natural talent made for his immortality was spoiled
by a liking for dirty realism and his filthy language. Literature
cannot use such expressions of which even peasants are ashamed. The
real truth, if the question is about vicious people, can be attained
by other means, by probable reproduction of the state of their souls,
thoughts, deeds, finally by the run of their conversation, but not by
verbal quotation of their swearings and most horrid words. As in the
choice of pictures, so in the choice of expression, exist certain
measures, pointed at by reason and good taste. Zola overstepped it
to such a degree ("La Terre") to which nobody yet dared to approach.
Monsters are killed because they are monsters. A book which is the
cause of disgust must be abandoned. It is the natural order of
things. From old production as of universal literature survive the
forgetfulness of the rough productions, destined to excite laughter
(Aristophanes, Rabelais, etc.), or lascivious things, but written
with an elegance (Boccaccio). Not one book written in order to excite
nausea outlived. Zola, for the sake of the renown caused by his works,
for the sake of the scandal produced by every one of his volumes,
killed his future. On account of that happened a strange thing: it
happened that he, a man writing according to a conceived plan, writing
with deliberation, cold and possessing his subjects as very few
writers are, created good things only when he had the least
opportunity to realize his plans, doctrines, means,--in a word, when
he dominated the subject the least and was dominated by the subject
most.
Pages:
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45