As to his personal character, it has been fitly
described by M. Anatole France, himself a distinguished novelist.
Zola, said he, "had the candour and sincerity of great souls. He was
profoundly moral. He has depicted vice with a rough and vigorous hand.
His apparent pessimism ill conceals a real optimism, a persistent faith
in the progress of intelligence and justice. In his romances, which
are social studies, he attacks with vigorous hatred an idle, frivolous
society, a base and noxious aristocracy. He combated social evil
wherever he encountered it. His work is comparable only in greatness
with that of Tolstoi. At the two extremities of European thought the
lyre has raised two vast cities. Both are generous and pacific; but
whereas Tolstoi's is the city of resignation, Zola's is the city of
work."
It is still too soon to form an opinion as to the permanent value
of Zola's writings, for posterity has set aside many well-considered
judgments; but their influence has been, and will continue to be, far
reaching. They have opened up new avenues in literature, and have made
possible to others much that was formerly unattainable.
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