Émile ZOLA. L.A.S., Paris March 28, 1881, to Jules Claretie; 2pages in-12 (mourning), envelope. "My dear colleague, I thank you most sincerely for the kind dispatch of your Amours d'un interne, which I began reading with great interest. You know that physiological questions fascinate me, and I find in your book some very interesting documents. Thank you also for your article in Le Temps, which we've already discussed. I was very pleased with the handshake we exchanged in Rouen, on a very sad occasion [Flaubert's funeral]. But believe me, there has never been any personal hostility in my harsh, and no doubt passionate, criticism. I fight for ideas, not against colleagues"...