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.
A charge not unfrequently brought against Zola is that he was a somewhat
ignorant person, who required to get up from textbooks every subject
upon which he wrote. Now there seems to be little doubt that it was in
the first instance due to the indiscretion of his biographer, M. Paul
Alexis, that this charge has arisen. Impressed by the vast industry of
his friend, M. Alexis said so much about "research" and "documents"
that less friendly critics seized the opportunity of exaggerating the
importance of these.
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