Conversations with Zola #1

Mutter Erde (with soil) from 'The Library of Lost Books'

I'm working with a book issued to me by The Library of Lost Books, which will be returned in September to become part of an exhibition for the new Library of Birmingham.

It’s a German translation of a novel by Emile Zola - Mutter Erde (translates as Mother Earth, original French title La Terre). Apart from being fascinated by the text's transitions through translation, I'm interested in pursuing the idea of soil, earth, dirt (both as source of life and as waste) - particularly in relation to the final sentence of the novel which apparently translates as "Deaths, seed and bread grew out of the earth."...And so I was intrigued to find, on closer inspection of the book, that it already contains some soil, squashed between pages 444 and 445.