ALS in French, three pages, 5 x 8, July 15, 1884. Boldly penned letter to a colleague. In full (translated): “What you are asking of me is radically impossible. I am working on Germinal, nothing is finalized, and if I keep saying to you that you will be the first one to receive a draft of it, I also keep saying to you that you will receive this proof only in the first two weeks in October, and even maybe on October 25 at the earliest. You will still have a month to prepare the first series, what is reasonable. The novel, I told you, is not centered on physiological questions, and I think that it will not alarm too much the female readers’ modesty. But I have never written for boarding schools, and authorize you in advance to expurgate your translation, if you judge it necessary, because you know your public better than me. And if you want to believe me on that, do not deal with the tremblers, with the one who could accuse us later on to have deceived them. It is well understood, is not it? that you only have your German translation, because I negotiate for translations in all languages, and if you had the French text or any other translation but yours, you would put me in an awkward position. I am not surprised that the farces are starting in [Buda]Pest. From time immemorial, they stole from me in Pest. I have received the letter that I am communicating to you and to which I am answering that Germinal is sold to Prussia. Feel at ease. Besides, to publish Germinal, they would have had to have the text; and they will not get it, you will be the only one to have it, one month ahead. Anyhow, make sure of your rights, see if you may have in your laws a mean to asserts them.” In fine condition, with central vertical and horizontal folds.
Germinal is widely considered Zola's masterpiece and one of the most significant novels in the French literary canon. He wrote it between April 1884 and January 1885, and it first appeared serialized in the periodical Gil Blas between November 1884 and February 1885—as such, Zola penned this letter while working on the novel and before it had ever appeared in print. The publication schedule and serial format are discussed here, with the author reassuring his translator that he will have it in October, one month before the first portion was published. What is most interesting is that Zola grants permission for expurgation. As a leading proprietor of literary naturalism, a movement that first gained prominence in France, Zola's works were characterized by a sordid realism and frankness about sexuality that some international audiences found offensive—some of his writing even violated obscenity laws. With immediate relevance to Zola's magnum opus as well as the controversiality of his work, this letter features content of the highest possible desirability. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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