THE JOY OF LIFE
[LA JOIE DE VIVRE]
by
ÉMILE ZOLA
EDITED WITH A PREFACE BY
ERNEST ALFRED VIZETELLY
LONDON
CHATTO & WINDUS
1904
PREFACE
'La Joie de Vivre,' here translated as 'The Joy of Life,' waswritten by M. Zola in 1883, partly at his country house atMédan, and partly at Bénodet, a little seaside place in Brittany.The scene of the story is laid, however, on the coastof the neighbouring province of Normandy, between themouth of the Orne and the rocks of Grandcamp, where theauthor had sojourned, more than once, in previous years.The title selected by him for this book is to be taken in anironical or sarcastic sense. There is no joy at all in thelives of the characters whom he portrays in it. The storyof the 'hero' is one of mental weakness, poisoned by a constantlyrecurring fear of death; whilst that of his father isone of intense physical suffering, blended with an eagerdesire to continue living, even at the cost of yet greater torture.Again, the story of the heroine is one of blighted affections,the wrecking of all which might have made her life worthliving. And there is a great deal of truth in the variouspictures of human existence which are thus presented to us;however much some people, in their egregious vanity, mayrecoil from the idea that life and love and talent and gloryare all very poor and paltry things.
M. Zola is not usually a pessimist. One finds many ofhis darkest pictures relieved by a touch of hopefulness; butthere is extremely little in the pages of 'La Joie de Vivre,'which is essentially an analysis of human suffering andmisery. Nevertheless, the heroine, Pauline Quenu, thedaughter of the Quenus who figure largely in 'Le Ventre deParis' ('The Fat and the Thin'), is a beautiful, touching,and almost consolatory creature. She appears to the reader[Pg vi]as the embodiment of human abnegation and devotion. Herguardians rob her, but she scarcely heeds it; her loverLazare, their son, discards her for another woman, but sheforgives him. It is she who infuses life into the lungs ofher rival's puny babe; and when Lazare yields to his horriblefear of death it is she who tries to comfort him, whoendeavours to dispel the gloomy thoughts which poison hishours. No sacrifice is too great for her—money, love, sherelinquishes everything, in the vain hope of securing atransient happiness for the man to whom she has given herheart. At times, no doubt, she yearns for his affection, sheexperiences momentary weaknesses, but her spirit is strong,and it invariably triumphs over her rebellious flesh.
Lazare, on the other hand, is one of those wretchedbeings whose number seems to be constantly increasing inour midst, the product of our corrupt civilisation, our grotesqueeducational systems, our restlessness and thirst forwealth, our thousand vices and our blatant hypocrisy. Atthe same time he is a talented young fellow, as are so manyof the wretched décadents of nowadays; and 'somethingmore or something less' in his brain might have turned histalent into genius. In this respect, indeed, he suggestsanother of M. Zola's characters, Cla