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pubOne.info thank you for your continued support and wish to present you this new edition. The Fortune of the Rougons is the initial volume of the Rougon-Macquart series. Though it was by no means M. Zola's first essay in fiction, it was undoubtedly his first great bid for genuine literary fame, and the foundation of what must necessarily be regarded as his life-work. The idea of writing the natural and social history of a family under the Second Empire, extending to a score of volumes, was doubtless suggested to M. Zola by Balzac's immortal Comedie Humaine. He was twenty-eight years of age when this idea first occurred to him; he was fifty-three when he at last sent the manuscript of his concluding volume, Dr. Pascal, to the press. He had spent five-and-twenty years in working out his scheme, persevering with it doggedly and stubbornly, whatever rebuffs he might encounter, whatever jeers and whatever insults might be directed against him by the ignorant, the prejudiced, and the hypocritical. Truth was on the march and nothing could stay it; even as, at the present hour, its march, if slow, none the less continues athwart another and a different crisis of the illustrious novelist's career

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Publié par	Pub One Info
Date de parution	23 octobre 2010
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9782819918233
Langue	English

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INTRODUCTION
"The Fortune of the Rougons" is the initial volumeof the Rougon-Macquart series. Though it was by no means M. Zola'sfirst essay in fiction, it was undoubtedly his first great bid forgenuine literary fame, and the foundation of what must necessarilybe regarded as his life-work. The idea of writing the "natural andsocial history of a family under the Second Empire," extending to ascore of volumes, was doubtless suggested to M. Zola by Balzac'simmortal "Comedie Humaine." He was twenty-eight years of age whenthis idea first occurred to him; he was fifty-three when he at lastsent the manuscript of his concluding volume, "Dr. Pascal," to thepress. He had spent five-and-twenty years in working out hisscheme, persevering with it doggedly and stubbornly, whateverrebuffs he might encounter, whatever jeers and whatever insultsmight be directed against him by the ignorant, the prejudiced, andthe hypocritical. Truth was on the march and nothing could stay it;even as, at the present hour, its march, if slow, none the lesscontinues athwart another and a different crisis of the illustriousnovelist's career.
It was in the early summer of 1869 that M. Zolafirst began the actual writing of "The Fortune of the Rougons." Itwas only in the following year, however, that the serialpublication of the work commenced in the columns of "Le Siecle,"the Republican journal of most influence in Paris in those days ofthe Second Empire. The Franco-German war interrupted this issue ofthe story, and publication in book form did not take place untilthe latter half of 1871, a time when both the war and the Communehad left Paris exhausted, supine, with little or no interest inanything. No more unfavourable moment for the issue of an ambitiouswork of fiction could have been found. Some two or three years wentby, as I well remember, before anything like a revival ofliterature and of public interest in literature took place. Thus,M. Zola launched his gigantic scheme under auspices which wouldhave made many another man recoil. "The Fortune of the Rougons,"and two or three subsequent volumes of his series, attracted but amoderate degree of attention, and it was only on the morrow of thepublication of "L'Assommoir" that he awoke, like Byron, to findhimself famous.
As previously mentioned, the Rougon-Macquart seriesforms twenty volumes. The last of these, "Dr. Pascal," appeared in1893. Since then M. Zola has written "Lourdes," "Rome," and"Paris." Critics have repeated ad nauseam that these lastworks constitute a new departure on M. Zola's part, and, so far asthey formed a new series, this is true. But the suggestion that hehas in any way repented of the Rougon-Macquart novels isridiculous. As he has often told me of recent years, it is, as faras possible, his plan to subordinate his style and methods to hissubject. To have written a book like "Rome," so largely devoted tothe ambitions of the Papal See, in the same way as he had writtenbooks dealing with the drunkenness or other vices of Paris, wouldhave been the climax of absurdity.
Yet the publication of "Rome," was the signal for ageneral outcry on the part of English and American reviewers thatZolaism, as typified by the Rougon-Macquart series, was altogethera thing of the past. To my thinking this is a profound error. M.Zola has always remained faithful to himself. The only differencethat I perceive between his latest work, "Paris," and certainRougon-Macquart volumes, is that with time, experience andassiduity, his genius has expanded and ripened, and that thehesitation, the groping for truth, so to say, which may be found insome of his earlier writings, has disappeared.
At the time when "The Fortune of the Rougons" wasfirst published, none but the author himself can have imagined thatthe foundation-stone of one of the great literary monuments of thecentury had just been laid. From the "story" point of view the bookis one of M. Zola's very best, although its construction -particularly as regards the long interlude of the idyll of Mietteand Silvere - is far from being perfect. Such a work when firstissued might well bring its author a measure of popularity, but itcould hardly confer fame. Nowadays, however, looking backward, andbearing in mind that one here has the genius of M. Zola's lifework,"The Fortune of the Rougons" becomes a book of exceptional interestand importance. This has been so well understood by French readersthat during the last six or seven years the annual sales of thework have increased threefold. Where, over a course of twentyyears, 1,000 copies were sold, 2,500 and 3,000 are sold to-day. Howmany living English novelists can say the same of their earlyessays in fiction, issued more than a quarter of a century ago?
I may here mention that at the last date to which Ihave authentic figures, that is, Midsummer 1897 (prior, of course,to what is called "L'Affaire Dreyfus"), there had been sold of theentire Rougon-Macquart series (which had begun in 1871) 1,421,000copies. These were of the ordinary Charpentier editions of theFrench originals. By adding thereto several editions de luxe and the widely-circulated popular illustrated editions of certainvolumes, the total amounts roundly to 2,100,000. "Rome," "Lourdes,""Paris," and all M. Zola's other works, apart from the"Rougon-Macquart" series, together with the translations into adozen different languages - English, German, Italian, Spanish,Dutch, Danish, Portuguese, Bohemian, Hungarian, and others - arenot included in the above figures. Otherwise the latter might wellbe doubled. Nor is account taken of the many serial issues whichhave brought M. Zola's views to the knowledge of the masses of allEurope.
It is, of course, the celebrity attaching to certainof M. Zola's literary efforts that has stimulated the demand forhis other writings. Among those which are well worthy of being readfor their own sakes, I would assign a prominent place to thepresent volume. Much of the story element in it is admirable, and,further, it shows M. Zola as a genuine satirist and humorist. TheRougons' yellow drawing-room and its habitues, and many of thescenes between Pierre Rougon and his wife Felicite, are worthy ofthe pen of Douglas Jerrold. The whole account, indeed, of the townof Plassans, its customs and its notabilities, is satire of themost effective kind, because it is satire true to life, and neverdegenerates into mere caricature.
It is a rather curious coincidence that, at the timewhen M. Zola was thus portraying the life of Provence, his greatcontemporary, bosom friend, and rival for literary fame, the lateAlphonse Daudet, should have been producing, under the title of"The Provencal Don Quixote," that unrivalled presentment of thefoibles of the French Southerner, with everyone nowadays knows as"Tartarin of Tarascon." It is possible that M. Zola, while writinghis book, may have read the instalments of "Le Don QuichotteProvencal" published in the Paris "Figaro," and it may be that thisperusal imparted that fillip to his pen to which we owe the manyamusing particulars that he gives us of the town of Plassans.Plassans, I may mention, is really the Provencal Aix, which M.Zola's father provided with water by means of a canal still bearinghis name. M. Zola himself, though born in Paris, spent the greaterpart of his childhood there. Tarascon, as is well known, neverforgave Alphonse Daudet for his "Tartarin"; and in a like way M.Zola, who doubtless counts more enemies than any other literary manof the period, has none bitterer than the worthy citizens of Aix.They cannot forget or forgive the rascally Rougon-Macquarts.
The name Rougon-Macquart has to me always suggestedthat splendid and amusing type of the cynical rogue, RobertMacaire. But, of course, both Rougon and Macquart are genuineFrench names and not inventions. Indeed, several years ago I cameby chance upon them both, in an old French deed which I wasexamining at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. I there foundmention of a Rougon family and a Macquart family dwelling virtuallyside by side in the same village. This, however, was in Champagne,not in Provence. Both families farmed vineyards for a once famousabbey in the vicinity of Epernay, early in the seventeenth century.To me, personally, this trivial discovery meant a great deal. Itsomehow aroused my interest in M. Zola and his works. Of the latterI had then only glanced through two or three volumes. With M. Zolahimself I was absolutely unacquainted. However, I took the libertyto inform him of my little discovery; and afterwards I read all thebooks that he had published. Now, as it is fairly well known, Ihave given the greater part of my time, for several years past, tothe task of familiarising English readers with his writings. An olddeed, a chance glance, followed by the great friendship of my lifeand years of patient labour. If I mention this matter, it is solelywith the object of endorsing the truth of the saying that the mostinsignificant incidents frequently influence and even shape ourcareers.
But I must come back to "The Fortune of theRougons." It has, as I have said, its satirical and humorous side;but it also contains a strong element of pathos. The idyll ofMiette and Silvere is a very touching one, and quite in accord withthe conditions of life prevailing in Provence at the period M. Zolaselects for his narrative. Miette is a frank child of nature;Silvere, her lover, in certain respects foreshadows, a quarter of acentury in advance, the Abbe Pierre Fromont of "Lourdes," "Rome,"and "Paris." The environment differs, of course, but germs of thesame nature may readily be detected in both characters. As for theother personages of M. Zola's book - on the one hand, Aunt Dide,Pierre Rougon, his wife, Felicite, and their sons Eugene, Aristideand Pascal, and, on the other, Macquart, his daughter Gervaise of"L'Assommoir," and his son Jean of "La Terre" and "La Debacle,"together with the members of the Mouret branch o