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Is my note of Topin's Man in the Iron Mask appropriate?

Vernon White 12:48, 10 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Remarks on Vizetelly's publication of Zola's works with a "realistic" banner:


The [Project Gutenberg] EBook of A Zola Dictionary, by J. G. Patterson

The reputation of Zola has suffered, it is to be feared, in no small degree from the indiscretions of his friends.

In England he was introduced to the notice of the reading public by Mr. Henry Vizetelly, who between 1884 and 1889 published a number of translations of his novels.

The last of these was _The Soil_, a translation of _La Terre_, which aroused such an outcry that a prosecution followed, and Mr. Vizetelly was sentenced to three months' imprisonment. Without raising any question as to the propriety of this prosecution, it is difficult to avoid pointing out that Mr. Vizetelly was singularly ill advised not to have taken into account the essential differences between English and French literature, and not have seen that the publication of this particular book in its entirety was an impossibility under existing conditions.

It is regrettable also that Mr. Vizetelly, who though a gentleman of the highest character, was no doubt anxious to make the most possible out of his venture, did not duly appreciate that the word "Realistic," which was blazoned on the covers of the various books issued by him, was in the early eighties invariably interpreted as meaning pornographic.

Presumably nothing was further from Mr. Vizetelly's wish--his defence at the trial was that the books were literature of the highest kind--but it is unquestionable that the format was such as to give the impression indicated, an impression deepened by the extremely Gallic freedom of the illustrations. There can be little doubt that had the works been issued in an unobtrusive form, without illustrations, they would have attracted less attention of the undesirable kind which they afterwards received. The use of the term "Realistic" was the more remarkable as Zola had previously invented the word _Naturalisme_ to distinguish his work from that of the Realistic school. But if Zola's reputation in England suffered in this way, it is right to refer here to the debt of gratitude to Mr. E. A. Vizetelly under which the English public now lies.

Some time after the prosecution of his father, Mr. Vizetelly began to publish, through Messrs. Chatto & Windus, a series of versions of Zola's works. The translations were admirably done, and while it was found necessary to make certain omissions, the task was so skilfully accomplished that in many cases actual improvement has resulted. These versions are at present the chief translations of Zola's works in circulation in this country; but while their number has been added to from time to time, it has not been found possible to include the whole of the Rougon-Macquart series.

In 1894-5, however, the Lutetian Society issued to its members a literal and unabridged translation of six of the novels, made by writers of such eminence as Havelock Ellis, Arthur Symons, and Ernest Dowson.

These are the only translations of these works which are of any value to the student, but they are unfortunately almost unobtainable, as the entire edition was restricted to three hundred copies on hand-made paper and ten on Japanese vellum.

Vernon White 15:33, 11 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I'd be wary of using Patterson as a source - the Zola Dictionary dates from 1912 (so it's not any more authoritative than the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica), and almost everything he says is out of date and/or contradicted by later Zola studies. In particular, he is writing from a prudish Edwardian English perspective - the Vizetelly translations that are still in print today, bowdlerised first by Henry and then re-censored and largely rewritten by Ernest, are not taken seriously by any student of literature except as quaint examples of Victorian censorship gone mad. The Lutetian Society versions are also very widely available, having been reprinted several times since Patterson was writing; these translations have also all been superseded, with the possible exception of La Curée. His description of the Vizetelly trial is a little inaccurate too; a good source of information concerning the trial, complete with excerpts from the judge and counsel in the case, is Graham King's Garden of Zola. User:Fosse8

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