ABSTRACT
One of the most striking polemical texts of the Affair was written by a man who declared himself resolutely neutral. The stock nature of the invective of the Affair plays an important part in this process, and it is Bloy’s personal interpretation of the meaning of such lieux communs which will particularly interest the reader. Zola’s perpetual repetition of the same phrases, too, comes under fire. Bloy believed that the net result of the over-use of lieux communs in the Affair was the devaluation of language. An added meaning, however, is created by the way in which the ‘writer’, the ‘ordurier’ (Zola), destroys and dirties the Word by devaluing those words which should relate to essential Truths. Bloy’s outlook is amazing and disconcerting; in its eschatological dimension, it does not seem to relate to any of the normal attitudes of the Affair, or indeed to orthodox Christian beliefs.
