File 33 - A.l.s. from Émile Zola to Gaston Calmette

36. A.l.s. from Émile Zola to Gaston Calmette (1858-1914), Paris, 2 January 1896, 1 p.
Zola tells Calmette that he was sure that Calmette had not read the article, since Zola knows that Calmette holds him in high esteem. Although he is normally very tolerant, Zola continues, he felt that he had to protest against the article. Tells Calmette that M. Saint-Albin can come to see him any evening except Wednesday, at 6:00 p.m.
Zola is referring to an article which had appeared in Le Figaro on 1 January 1896 under the signature of Jules Delafosse. In his article, Delafosse lamented the sorry state into which France had fallen, and criticized Zola for reveling in his country’s decadence and describing it in his novels. Calmette had assured Zola that neither he nor his co-director at Le Figaro, Fernand de Rodays, had read the article beforehand: otherwise, the section of the article criticizing Zola would have been removed.
Published in Correspondance, vol. VIII, page 297-298 (letter 282).