The First Generation Reception of the Novels of Emile Zola in Britain and America: An Annotated Bibliography of English Language Responses to his Work, 1877–1902 (review)

Alma W. Byrd attempts to document Zola's nineteenth-century translation and reception in the English-speaking world: a worthwhile objective, since much of the evidence is buried in the archives of the transatlantic press. However, Byrd does little to facilitate further research. She fails to respond to important scholarship — such as Andrew King's work, published in 2004, on the English serialization of Au Bonheur des Dames — and her annotations offer minimal insight. Indeed, Byrd seems insufficiently acquainted with her material: for instance, an entry on 'The Decay of Lying' (1889) — the well-known dialogue which features a discussion of Zola — does not mention that its author is Oscar Wilde. Since she has nothing to say about Wilde, it is no surprise that Byrd is unable to contextualize the views of such rather less famous names as Emily Crawford, W. H. Gleadell, W. S. Lilly and H. Schutz Wilson. A prolix introduction quotes these and other similarly forgotten writers with reverence, but gives no sign of how or why their views on Zola mattered. The greatest flaw is the lack of an argument as to what constitutes a response to Zola's work. While Byrd's approach seems admirably holistic — she records, for example, a 40-page article that contains a single reference to Zola — a truly comprehensive bibliography would require far more than 170 pages; with no explanation of method, we are left guessing the rules for inclusion. (In general, Byrd privileges prestigious literary periodicals, and ignores the rich discussions of Zola which took place in the newspaper press.) This bibliography will not harm a researcher seeking information about Zola's reception, but its benefit is doubtful. There is too narrow a range of material, and what there is can be unreliable: beware misquoted titles and inaccurate dates.