Paul Alexis was a novelist, journalist, and dramatist, one of the naturalistes, and a friend of Emile Zola. This volume brings together for the first time the 229 letters still in existence from him to Zola. Written over a period of thirty years, from the beginning of Rougon-Macquart to the Dreyfus affair, they are a  rich source of information on a particularly fertile period in French literature. The letters are intimate, lacking all pretensions to elegance and stylistic constraints; taken together they describe vividly the private life and thoughts of this fervent naturaliste.


Alexis was the first to write a biography of Emile Zola, and his letters will be of interest to literary historians and critics for the fresh light they shed on Zola and on the history of naturalisme. Throughout the correspondence Alexis writes of his activities as a free-lance journalist, and provides a first-hand account of the press in France during the nineteenth century.


The introduction and numerous biographical notes throughout the volume paint an accurate portrait of Alexis the man and writer, and place him and the letters in context of naturalisme. The letters, all previously unpublished, have been carefully annotated and documented. Included in the appendix are several unpublished documents as well as excerpts of articles from periodicals mentioned in the correspondence; most are signed by Alexis and are concerned with the history of naturalisme. A bibliography includes the works of Alexis and other books of interest to those studying the period.