His Masterpiece by Emile Zola (most inspirational books of all time txt) 📕

'His Masterpiece,' Which In The Original French Bears The Title Of

_L'oeuvre_,  Is A Strikingly Accurate Story Of Artistic Life In Paris

During The Latter Years Of The Second Empire. Amusing At Times,

Extremely Pathetic And Even Painful At Others,  It Not Only Contributes

A Necessary Element To The Rougon-Macquart Series Of Novels--A Series

Illustrative Of All Phases Of Life In France Within Certain Dates--But

It Also Represents A Particular Period Of M. Zola's Own Career And

Work. Some Years,  Indeed,  Before The Latter Had Made Himself Known At

All Widely As A Novelist,  He Had Acquired Among Parisian Painters And

Sculptors Considerable Notoriety As A Revolutionary Art Critic,  A

Fervent Champion Of That 'Open-Air' School Which Came Into Being

During The Second Empire,  And Which Found Its First Real Master In

Edouard Manet,  Whose Then Derided Works Are Regarded,  In These Later

Days,  As Masterpieces. Manet Died Before His Genius Was Fully

Recognised; Still He Lived Long Enough To Reap Some Measure Of

Recognition And To See His Influence Triumph In More Than One Respect

Among His Brother Artists. Indeed,  Few If Any Painters Left A Stronger

Mark On The Art Of The Second Half Of The Nineteenth Century Than He

Did,  Even Though The School,  Which He Suggested Rather Than

Established,  Lapsed Largely Into Mere Impressionism--A Term,  By The

Way,  Which He Himself Coined Already In 1858; For It Is An Error To

Attribute It--As Is Often Done--To His Friend And Junior,  Claude

Monet.

It Was At The Time Of The Salon Of 1866 That M. Zola,  Who Criticised

That Exhibition In The _Evenement_ Newspaper,* First Came To The Front

As An Art Critic,  Slashing Out,  To Right And Left,  With All The Vigour

Of A Born Combatant,  And Championing M. Manet--Whom He Did Not As Yet

Know Personally--With A Fervour Born Of The Strongest Convictions. He

Had Come To The Conclusion That The Derided Painter Was Being Treated

With Injustice,  And That Opinion Sufficed To Throw Him Into The Fray;

Even As,  In More Recent Years,  The Belief That Captain Dreyfus Was

Innocent Impelled Him In Like Manner To Plead That Unfortunate

Officer's Cause. When M. Zola First Championed Manet And His Disciples

He Was Only Twenty-Six Years Old,  Yet He Did Not Hesitate To Pit

Himself Against Men Who Were Regarded As The Most Eminent Painters And

Critics Of France; And Although (Even As In The Dreyfus Case) The Only

Immediate Result Of His Campaign Was To Bring Him Hatred And

Contumely,  Time,  Which Always Has Its Revenges,  Has Long Since Shown

How Right He Was In Forecasting The Ultimate Victory Of Manet And His

Principal Methods.

  * Some Of The Articles Will Be Found In The Volume Of His

    Miscellaneous Writings Entitled _Mes Haines_.

In Those Days M. Zola's Most Intimate Friend--A Companion Of His

Boyhood And Youth--Was Paul Cezanne,  A Painter Who Developed Talent As

An Impressionist; And The Lives Of Cezanne And Manet,  As Well As That

Of A Certain Rather Dissolute Engraver,  Who Sat For The Latter's

Famous Picture _Le Bon Bock_,  Suggested To M. Zola The Novel Which He

Has Called _L'oeuvre_. Claude Lantier,  The Chief Character In The

Book,  Is,  Of Course,  Neither Cezanne Nor Manet,  But From The Careers

Of Those Two Painters,  M. Zola Has Borrowed Many Little Touches And

Incidents.* The Poverty Which Falls To Claude's Lot Is Taken From The

Life Of Cezanne,  For Manet--The Only Son Of A Judge--Was Almost

Wealthy. Moreover,  Manet Married Very Happily,  And In No Wise Led The

Pitiful Existence Which In The Novel Is Ascribed To Claude Lantier And

His Helpmate,  Christine. The Original Of The Latter Was A Poor Woman

Who For Many Years Shared The Life Of The Engraver To Whom I Have

Alluded; And,  In That Connection,  It As Well To Mention That What May

Be Called The Bennecourt Episode Of The Novel Is Virtually

Photographed From Life.

  * So Far As Manet Is Concerned,  The Curious Reader May Consult M.

    Antonin Proust's Interesting 'Souvenirs,' Published In The _Revue

    Blanche_,  Early In 1897.

Whilst,  However,  Claude Lantier,  The Hero Of _L'oeuvre_,  Is Unlike

Manet In So Many Respects,  There Is A Close Analogy Between The

Artistic Theories And Practices Of The Real Painter And The Imaginary

One. Several Of Claude's Pictures Are Manet's,  Slightly Modified. For

Instance,  The Former's Painting,  'In The Open Air,' Is Almost A

Replica Of The Latter's _Dejeuner Sur L'herbe_ ('A Lunch On The

Grass'),  Shown At The Salon Of The Rejected In 1863. Again,  Many Of

The Sayings Put Into Claude's Mouth In The Novel Are Really Sayings Of

Manet's. And Claude's Fate,  At The End Of The Book,  Is Virtually That

Of A Moody Young Fellow Who Long Assisted Manet In His Studio,

Preparing His Palette,  Cleaning His Brushes,  And So Forth. This Lad,

Whom Manet Painted In _L'enfant Aux Cerises_ ('The Boy With The

Cherries'),  Had Artistic Aspirations Of His Own And,  Being Unable To

Justify Them,  Ended By Hanging Himself.

I Had Just A Slight Acquaintance With Manet,  Whose Studio I First

Visited Early In My Youth,  And Though The Exigencies Of Life Led Me

Long Ago To Cast Aside All Artistic Ambition Of My Own,  I Have Been

For More Than Thirty Years On Friendly Terms With Members Of The

French Art World. Thus It Would Be Comparatively Easy For Me To

Identify A Large Number Of The Characters And The Incidents Figuring

In 'His Masterpiece'; But I Doubt If Such Identification Would Have

Any Particular Interest For English Readers. I Will Just Mention That

Mahoudeau,  The Sculptor,  Is,  In A Measure,  Solari,  Another Friend Of

M. Zola's Boyhood And Youth; That Fagerolles,  In His Main Features,  Is

Gervex; And That Bongrand Is A Commingling Of Courbet,  Cabanel And

Gustave Flaubert. For Instance,  His So-Called 'Village Wedding' Is

Suggested By Courbet's 'Funeral At Ornans'; His Friendship For Claude

Is Cabanel's Friendship For Manet; Whilst Some Of His Mannerisms,  Such

As His Dislike For The Praise Accorded To Certain Of His Works,  Are

Simply Those Of Flaubert,  Who (Like Balzac In The Case Of _Eugenie

Grandet_) Almost Invariably Lost His Temper If One Ventured To Extol

_Madame Bovary_ In His Presence. Courbet,  By The Way,  So Far As

Disposition Goes,  Crops Up Again In M. Zola's Pages In The Person Of

Champbouvard,  A Sculptor,  Who,  Artistically,  Is A Presentment Of

Clesinger.

I Now Come To A Personage Of A Very Different Character,  Pierre

Sandoz,  Clerk,  Journalist,  And Novelist; And Sandoz,  It May Be Frankly

Admitted,  Is Simply M. Zola Himself. Personal Appearance,  Life,

Habits,  Opinions,  All Are Those Of The Novelist At A Certain Period Of

His Career; And For This Reason,  No Doubt,  Many Readers Of 'His

Masterpiece' Will Find Sandoz The Most Interesting Personage In The

Book. It Is Needless,  I Think,  To Enter Into Particulars On The

Subject. The Reader May Take It From Me That Everything Attributed In

The Following Pages To Pierre Sandoz Was Done,  Experienced,  Felt Or

Said By Emile Zola. In This Respect,  Then 'His Masterpiece' Is

Virtually M. Zola's 'David Copperfield'--The Book Into Which He Has

Put Most Of His Real Life. I May Also Mention,  Perhaps,  That The Long

Walks On The Quays Of Paris Which In The Narrative Are Attributed To

Claude Lantier Are Really M. Zola's Walks; For,  In His Youth,  When He

Vainly Sought Employment After Failing In His Examinations,  He Was

Wont,  At Times Of Great Discouragement,  To Roam The Paris Quays,

Studying Their Busy Life And Their Picturesque Vistas,  Whenever He Was

Not Poring Over The Second-Hand Books Set Out For Sale Upon Their

Parapets. From A Purely Literary Standpoint,  The Pictures Of The Quays

And The Seine To Be Found In _L'oeuvre_ Are Perhaps The Best Bits Of

The Book,  Though It Is All Of Interest,  Because It Is Essentially A

_Livre Vecu_,  A Work Really 'Lived' By Its Author. And If In The

Majority Of Its Characters,  Those Readers Possessing Some Real

Knowledge Of French Art Life Find One Man's Qualities Blended With

Another's Defects,  The Appearance Of A Third,  And The Habits Of A

Fourth,  The Whole None The Less Makes A Picture Of Great Fidelity To

Life And Truth. This Is The Parisian Art World As It Really Was,  With

Nothing Improbable Or Overstrained In The Narrative,  Save Its Very

First Chapter,  In Which Romanticism Is Certainly Allowed Full Play.

It Is Quite Possible That Some Readers May Not Judge Claude Lantier,

The 'Hero,' Very Favourably; He Is Like The Dog In The Fable Who

Forsakes The Substance For The Shadow; But It Should Be Borne In Mind

That He Is Only In Part Responsible For His Actions,  For The

Fatal Germ Of Insanity Has Been Transmitted To Him From His

Great-Grandmother. He Is,  Indeed,  The Son Of Gervaise,  The Heroine Of

_L'assommoir_ ('The Dram Shop'),  By Her Lover Lantier. And Gervaise,

It May Be Remembered,  Was The Daughter Of Antoine Macquart (Of 'The

Fortune Of The Rougons' And 'Dr. Pascal'),  The Latter Being The

Illegitimate Son Of Adelaide Fouque,  From Whom Sprang The Insanity Of

The Rougon-Macquarts. At The Same Time,  Whatever View May Be Taken Of

Claude's Artistic Theories,  Whatever Interest His Ultimate Fate May

Inspire,  It Cannot Be Denied That His Opinions On Painting Are Very

Ably Expressed,  And That His 'Case,' From A Pathological Point Of

View,  Is Diagnosticated By M. Zola With All The Skill Of A Physician.

Moreover,  There Can Be But One Opinion Concerning The Helpmate Of His

Life,  The Poor Devoted Christine; And No One Possessed Of Feeling Will

Be Able To Read The History Of Little Jacques Unmoved.

Stories Of Artistic Life Are Not As A Rule Particularly Popular With

English Readers,  But This Is Not Surprising When One Remembers That

Those Who Take A Genuine Interest In Art,  In This Country,  Are Still A

Small Minority. Quite Apart From Artistic Matters,  However,  There Is,

I Think,  An Abundance Of Human Interest In The Pages Of 'His

Masterpiece,' And Thus I Venture To Hope That The Present Version,

Which I Have Prepared As Carefully As My Powers Permit,  Will Meet With

The Favour Of Those Who Have Supported Me,  For A Good Many Years Now,

In My Endeavours To Make The Majority Of M. Zola's Works Accessible In

This Country.

                                                              E. A. V.

         Merton,  Surrey.