Emile ZOLA - Signed autograph letter - Paul CEZANNE
Emile ZOLA (1840 - 1902), French writer.
Autograph letter signed to his childhood friend Antony Valabrègue. Paris, April 4, 1867; 4 pages in-8°.
Letter from the beginnings of Zola, an activist writer, who shows in this letter to his childhood friend Antony Valabrègue, all his rage to succeed, his ideals, his convictions, his hard work: "The heavy tasks with which I am overwhelmed in this moment, however, should not cause me to neglect my friends altogether. I will try to devote an hour of my time to you. Allow me, first of all, to tell you that you judged the publication of the Mysteries of Marseilles a little provincially. If you were here, among us, if I could chat with you for ten minutes, you would immediately understand the reason for this work. I obey, as you know, necessities and wishes. It is not permissible for me, like you, to fall asleep, to shut myself up in an ivory tower, on the pretext that the crowd is stupid. I need the crowd, I go to it as best I can, I try every means to tame it. At the moment, I mainly need two things, publicity and money. Tell yourself that, and you will understand why I accepted the offers of the Messager de Provence. Besides, you are in all the hopes, in all the beliefs of the beginning; you judge men and works absolutely; you don't yet see that everything is relative, and you don't have the tolerances of experience. I don't want to throw night into your beautiful limpid sky. I await you at your beginnings, at your struggles; only then will you understand my behavior well. I tell you this as a friend. Of course, I leave the Mysteries of Marseilles to you. I know what I'm doing. Right now, I'm working on three novels: The Mysteries, a short story for Illustration, and a major psychological study for the Revue du XIX siècle [A love marriage]. I am very satisfied with this last work. This is, I believe, the best I have done so far. I even fear that the pace will be too square and that Houssaye will back down at the last moment. The work will appear in three parts; the first part is finished and should appear in May. You see that I am going quickly to work. Last month I wrote this first part, a third of the volume, and a hundred pages of the Mysteries. I stay bent over my desk from morning to night. This year, I will publish four to five volumes. Give me an annuity, and I'll undertake to go lock myself up with you right away and wallow in the sun, in the grass. I had to leave Le Figaro for a while. I only published flying articles there, and, profession for profession, I prefer to write long-term stories, which remain. I also had to give up the idea of making a living room. It is possible that I launch some brochures on my friends the painters. That, my faith, is all the news that concerns me. I work a lot, taking care of certain works and abandoning others, trying to make my hole with a pickaxe. You will know one day that it is difficult to dig such a hole. I will speak no more of your return to Paris. I can see that you are postponing it to a distant, indeterminate time. I will end up approving you; since you have become a poet again, it is preferable that you remain in the dead solitudes of the provinces. Only, enter the literary career by a way so different from the one I took, that it is difficult for me not to make some restrictions. My position imposed the fight on me, so that the fight, the militant work is for me the great means, the only one that I can advise. Your fortune, your instincts give you leisure; you linger happily. All roads are good. Follow yours, and I'll be the first to clap when you get a result. What I have told you, what I will no doubt tell you again, is dictated to me only by sympathy. You don't doubt it, do you? Some little news to finish: Paul [Cézanne] is refused, Guillemet [Jean-Baptiste Antoine Guillemet landscape painter from the Barbizon school] is refused, all are refused; the jury, irritated with my salon, expelled everyone who walked the new path. Baille enters right into fine appointments. Solure is still married. Here. Write to me often. Your letters give me great pleasure. Speak to me, on occasion, of the impression that the Mysteries make in Aix…"
Antony Valabrègue (1844-1900), childhood friend and classmate of Emile Zola and Paul Cézanne who painted his portrait, in Aix-en-Provence. He will become a poet and art critic
Zola published on March 2, 1867 his first novel, "The mysteries of Marseille", in the form of serials in the Messager de Provence, before appearing in 1867 with A. Arnaud in Marseille. He executed this commission in parallel with the writing of Thérèse Raquin. With this first novel, the young writer already provides the ingredients that will make his legend in the staging of the different social strata of the time, the denunciation of injustice, current events such as the 1848 revolution here and the cholera epidemic that raged in Provence.
Autograph letter signed to his childhood friend Antony Valabrègue. Paris, April 4, 1867; 4 pages in-8°.
Letter from the beginnings of Zola, an activist writer, who shows in this letter to his childhood friend Antony Valabrègue, all his rage to succeed, his ideals, his convictions, his hard work: "The heavy tasks with which I am overwhelmed in this moment, however, should not cause me to neglect my friends altogether. I will try to devote an hour of my time to you. Allow me, first of all, to tell you that you judged the publication of the Mysteries of Marseilles a little provincially. If you were here, among us, if I could chat with you for ten minutes, you would immediately understand the reason for this work. I obey, as you know, necessities and wishes. It is not permissible for me, like you, to fall asleep, to shut myself up in an ivory tower, on the pretext that the crowd is stupid. I need the crowd, I go to it as best I can, I try every means to tame it. At the moment, I mainly need two things, publicity and money. Tell yourself that, and you will understand why I accepted the offers of the Messager de Provence. Besides, you are in all the hopes, in all the beliefs of the beginning; you judge men and works absolutely; you don't yet see that everything is relative, and you don't have the tolerances of experience. I don't want to throw night into your beautiful limpid sky. I await you at your beginnings, at your struggles; only then will you understand my behavior well. I tell you this as a friend. Of course, I leave the Mysteries of Marseilles to you. I know what I'm doing. Right now, I'm working on three novels: The Mysteries, a short story for Illustration, and a major psychological study for the Revue du XIX siècle [A love marriage]. I am very satisfied with this last work. This is, I believe, the best I have done so far. I even fear that the pace will be too square and that Houssaye will back down at the last moment. The work will appear in three parts; the first part is finished and should appear in May. You see that I am going quickly to work. Last month I wrote this first part, a third of the volume, and a hundred pages of the Mysteries. I stay bent over my desk from morning to night. This year, I will publish four to five volumes. Give me an annuity, and I'll undertake to go lock myself up with you right away and wallow in the sun, in the grass. I had to leave Le Figaro for a while. I only published flying articles there, and, profession for profession, I prefer to write long-term stories, which remain. I also had to give up the idea of making a living room. It is possible that I launch some brochures on my friends the painters. That, my faith, is all the news that concerns me. I work a lot, taking care of certain works and abandoning others, trying to make my hole with a pickaxe. You will know one day that it is difficult to dig such a hole. I will speak no more of your return to Paris. I can see that you are postponing it to a distant, indeterminate time. I will end up approving you; since you have become a poet again, it is preferable that you remain in the dead solitudes of the provinces. Only, enter the literary career by a way so different from the one I took, that it is difficult for me not to make some restrictions. My position imposed the fight on me, so that the fight, the militant work is for me the great means, the only one that I can advise. Your fortune, your instincts give you leisure; you linger happily. All roads are good. Follow yours, and I'll be the first to clap when you get a result. What I have told you, what I will no doubt tell you again, is dictated to me only by sympathy. You don't doubt it, do you? Some little news to finish: Paul [Cézanne] is refused, Guillemet [Jean-Baptiste Antoine Guillemet landscape painter from the Barbizon school] is refused, all are refused; the jury, irritated with my salon, expelled everyone who walked the new path. Baille enters right into fine appointments. Solure is still married. Here. Write to me often. Your letters give me great pleasure. Speak to me, on occasion, of the impression that the Mysteries make in Aix…"
Antony Valabrègue (1844-1900), childhood friend and classmate of Emile Zola and Paul Cézanne who painted his portrait, in Aix-en-Provence. He will become a poet and art critic
Zola published on March 2, 1867 his first novel, "The mysteries of Marseille", in the form of serials in the Messager de Provence, before appearing in 1867 with A. Arnaud in Marseille. He executed this commission in parallel with the writing of Thérèse Raquin. With this first novel, the young writer already provides the ingredients that will make his legend in the staging of the different social strata of the time, the denunciation of injustice, current events such as the 1848 revolution here and the cholera epidemic that raged in Provence.
This description has been translated automatically. please click here Click here to display the original language FR
Sold
This item is not available. Please click on « View the catalog » to see similar items available.
Delivery France:
30.00 € incl. VAT (*)
Country prices, click on See
See more
Hotline
Please contact us for any question regarding this object. For any other inquiry, we invite you to fill the contact form.
Other items from the category « Autographs »
