ZOLA, EMILE. (1840-1902). French novelist; author of the famous newspaper article, J’Accuse…! written in defense of Alfred Dreyfus, the French-Jewish officer unjustly convicted of treason in 1894. AQS. (“Emile Zola”). 1p. 8vo. N.p., N.d. The closing lines of his novel Le Rêve. In French with translation.
“Félicien was left holding only a very soft and very tender form, this wedding dress, all lace and pearls, the handful of light feathers, still lukewarm, of a bird. For a long time, he had felt certain that he had a shadow. The vision, come from the invisible, was returning to the invisible. It was merely an apparition, which was fading, after having created an illusion. Everything is but a dream. And, at the height of happiness, Angélique had disappeared, in the little breath of a kiss.”