?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900
"LABELS ARE NECESSARY, ON PAIN OF NOT BEING UNDERSTOOD AT ALL" ZOLA, ÉMILE. Autograph Letter Signed, to an unnamed recipient (lacking salutation), in French, thanking him for the kind words, and defending his own use of the word "naturalism" [likely suggesting that his literary characters and events are determined by natural, as opposed to supernatural, causes]. 1 1/4 pages, 8vo, written on a folded sheet; folds. Médan, 20 May 1882
"First, a thousand thank yous, my dear colleague, for the too kind things you say to me. But I assure you that I have never had the pretention of inventing anything. And if the word 'naturalism' is not good, too bad! It's not mine. I got it from Montaigne, from Taine, from Russian authors, and from a crowd of other ancestors. Besides, you are completely right, there are no schools, there are only men, when posterity has made its triage. Until then, unfortunately, groups exist, and labels are necessary, on pain of not being understood at all."
