A.l.s. from Émile Zola to Édouard Fournier
- CA ON00389 C8-4-1
- File
- 1865
- A.l.s. from Émile Zola to Édouard Fournier (1819-1880), [Paris], 20 November 1865, 3 p. – on letterhead «Librairie de L. Hachette et Cie, Boulevard Saint-Germain, 77», crossed out.
Zola writes to Fournier, a journalist who wrote for a number of Paris newspapers, to request that Fournier read and comment on Zola’s new (and his first) novel, La Confession de Claude in Fourier’s upcoming literary column in La Patrie.
In this letter, Zola’s keen sense of how to create publicity for his works is already evident, since he tells Fournier that he will not be upset if Fournier gives an honest opinion of his work. “It goes without saying, writes Zola, that I prefer a frank evaluation to a couple of indulgent lines.”
Published in Correspondance, vol. 1, p. 422-423 (letter 129).
This is a very significant letter, not only because of its content but also because letters from this period (the 1860’s) are relatively rare.