Renato's Reviews > J'accuse!: A Verdade em Marcha

In this book, Émile Zola, famous French novelist, put together in a compilation all of the articles and letters he wrote and published about The Dreyfus Affair expanding a three years period, from December 1897 to December 1900, while the events were slowly developing.

Initially being published on the Figaro - and having so far three articles there -, Zola started to see a growing resistance from the newspaper in continuing with publication after they suffered a decrease in circulation. Believing the public was against or not interested in Zola’s views, Figaro stopped being his main venue and he had to publish himself his articles in leaflets, until L’Aurore stepped up to become his main vehicle.

Besides this collection of written articles, Zola comments one by one giving us a general context of what was going on at the time, his feelings and thoughts. The main one is, of course J’accuse…!, an open letter to President Félix Faure published by L’Aurore in 13 January 1898, that gathers all the information that was out so far - everything that led into Dreyfus’s first court martial and condemnation, major Esterhazy’s absurd acquittance and how the Army and the government fought to cover up their mistake while keeping an innocent man in preposterous conditions living in the Devil’s Island. More than laying out all the cards, Zola went as far as actually naming names: Du Paty de Clam, Mercier, Billot, Boisdeffre, Gonse among others. He would end up being tried and convicted for criminal libel in 1898. Instead of going to jail, he fled to England where he remained for almost one year.

Other highlights included in the book are:

1) Lettre à la Jeunesse, a letter to the youth where he appeals to the younger’s sensitiveness and generosity, where he asks them to open their eyes and fight for Dreyfus’s cause instead of letting the older embark on this adventure in search of humanity, truth and justice;

2) Zola’s Déclaration au jury, the declaration he read to the jury on 21 February 1898 during his trial;

3) the open letter to Mrs. Alfred Dreyfus, Lucie, when Dreyfus was granted presidential pardon by President Loubet, where he says, among other things, that it felt bitter that after physical torture came moral torture for Dreyfus was not declared innocent at that point, and that it is revolting to achieve through mercy what should’ve been achieved through justice.

Zola himself claimed that he never loved or loathed the Jews, that none of his friends were Jewish and that, to him, they were simply human beings and that was enough. He became an important asset to the Dreyfusard cause, especially when the press, mainly through the newspapers La Libre Parole - by Édouard Drumont, a big time confessed anti-Semite -, L’Eclair and L’Echo de Paris - those last two acting on behalf of the War Ministry - was playing an important role in dividing the public opinion by obscuring their awareness of the facts. Zola acted as a relevant counterpoint and stated he was ashamed of the press.

Rating: this is a nice compilation that makes research easier for those interested in Zola and the translation to Portuguese was well done: 3 stars.