The beginnings--"Les deux Goncourts"--Their work--The novels--_Germinie Lacerteux_ and _Cherie_ taken as specimens--The impression produced by them--The rottenness of their theory--And the unattractiveness of their style--Emile Zola to be treated differently--Some points in his personality: literary and other--The Pillars of Naturalism--"Document" and "detail" before Naturalism--General stages traced--Some individual pioneers; especially Hugo--Survey of books: the short stories--"Les Rougon-Macquart"--"Les Trois Villes"--"Les Quatre Evangiles"--General considerations--Especially in regard to character--[Maupassant]--_Bel-Ami_--_Une Vie_--_Fort comme la Mort_--_Pierre et Jean_--_Notre Coeur_--_Les Dimanches_, etc.--_Yvette_--Short stories: the various collections--Classes: stories of 1870-71--Norman stories--Algerian and Sporting--Purely comic--Tragic--Tales of Life's Irony--Oddments--General considerations--Huysmans--Belot and others. CHAPTER XIV OTHER NOVELISTS OF 1870-1900 518 The last stage--Ferdinand Fabre--_L'Abbe Tigrane_--_Norine_, etc.--_Le Marquis de Pierrerue_--_Mon Oncle Celestin_--_Lucifer_--_Sylviane_ and _Taillevent_--_Toussaint Galabru_--Andre Theuriet--_Sauvageonne_--_Le Fils Maugars_--_Le Don Juan de Vireloup_ and _Raymonde_--General characteristics--Georges Ohnet--_Serge Panine_--_Le Maitre de Forges_--_Le Docteur Rameau_--_La Grande Marniere_--Reflections--Edouard Rod--_La Vie Privee de Michel Teissier_--_La Sacrifiee_--Note on _La Seconde Vie de M. T._--_Le Silence_--_La-Haut_--_La Course a la Mort_--_Le Menage du Pasteur Naudie_--_Mademoiselle Annette_--_L'Eau Courante_--_Scenes de la Vie Cosmopolite_--Catulle Mendes. CONCLUSION 556 APPENDIX 571 INDEX 577 CHAPTER I MADAME DE STAEL AND CHATEAUBRIAND [Sidenote: Reasons for beginning with Mme. de Stael.]