LOURDES
Of the Three Cities
By Émile Zola
Translated By Ernest A. Vizetelly
CONTENTS
V. THE DEATH OF BERNADETTE—THE NEW RELIGION
PREFACE
BEFORE perusing this work, it is as well that the reader should understand M. Zola’s aim in writing it, and his views—as distinct from those of his characters—upon Lourdes, its Grotto, and its cures. A short time before the book appeared M. Zola was interviewed upon the subject by his friend and biographer, Mr. Robert H. Sherard, to whom he spoke as follows:
“‘Lourdes’ came to be written by mere accident. In 1891 I happened to be travelling for my pleasure,
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