n 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. Every novelist of any consequence has found it
necessary to "cram" his subjects, but says little about the fact. James
Payn, for instance, could not have written his admirable descriptions of
China in _By Proxy_ without much reading of many books, and Mr.
Rudyard Kipling has not been blamed for studying the technicalities of
engineering before he wrote _The Ship that found Herself_. It is open to
question even whether Mr. Robert Hichens acquired his intimate knowledge
of the conditions of life in Southern Europe and Northern Africa
entirely without the assistance of Herr Baedeker. Zola undoubtedly
studied his subjects, but far too much has been made of the necessity
for his doing so. His equipment for the task he undertook was not less
complete than that of many another novelist, and, like Dickens, he
studied life in that school of a "stony-hearted stepmother," the streets
of a great city.

Zola's literary method may be described as a piling up of detail upon
detail till there is attained an effect portentous, overwhelming. He
lacked, however, a sense of proportion; he became so carried away by
his visions of human depravity, that his characters developed powers of
wickedness beyond mortal strength; he lay under an obsession regarding
the iniquities of mankind. In dealing with this it was unfortunately
his method to leave nothing to the imagination, and herein lies the most
serious blemish on his work. There is undoubtedly much coarseness in
some of his books, and the regrettable feature is that it is not only
unnecessary, but in some cases actually lessens the effect at which he
aimed. It is doubtful whether he was possessed of any sense of humour.
Mr. Andrew Lang says that his lack of it was absolute, a darkness that
can be felt; Mr. R. H. Sherrard, on the other hand, indicates that his
work "teems with quiet fun." On the whole, truth seems to lie with Mr.
Lang. M. and Madame Charles Badeuil, in _La Terre_ may seem Dickensian
to an English reader, but there is always the Gallic point of view to be
reckoned with, and it is doubtful if Zola did not regard these persons
merely as types of a virtuous bourgeoisie.

It was in the treatment of crowds in motion that Zola