ABSTRACT
During the last twenty years of the nineteenth century English novelists and critics were convinced that the art of fiction was at a critical stage of its development, and that French naturalism, as publicized and practised by Emile Zola, was mainly responsible for the crisis. In spite of the serious moral and aesthetic doubts raised by French naturalism, many people believed that under its influence a new era of the English novel was about to begin. Edmund Gosse wrote that naturalism 'has cleared the air of a thousand follies, has pricked a whole fleet of oratorical bubbles ... the public has eaten of the apple of knowledge, and will not be satisfied with mere marionettes'. 1 Havelock Ellis made a similar point - that while Zola's own work was limited in scope, his courageous example had paved the way for others to follow:
It has henceforth become possible for other novelists to find inspiration where before they could never have turned, to touch life with a vigour and audacity of phrase which, without Zola's example, they would have trembled to use, while they still remain free to bring to their work the simplicity, precision, and inner experience which he has never possessed. Zola has enlarged the field of the novel. 2
Hubert Crackanthorpe took the same point a step further, arguing that a change had taken place not only in the attitudes of novelists and critics but in the reading public as well:
Heroismisatadiscount;Mrs.Grundyisbecoming mythological;acrowdofunsuspectedsupporterscollectfrom allsides,andthedeadlyconflictofwhichwehadbeenwarned becomesbutaninterestingskirmish.Booksarepublished, storiesareprinted,inoldestablishedreviews,whichwould neverhavebeentoleratedafewyearsago.3
