| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Some Reminiscences by Joseph Conrad: nothing else. It is M. Anatole France, the most eloquent and
just of French prose writers, who says that we must recognise at
last that, "failing the resolution to hold our peace, we can only
talk of ourselves."
This remark, if I remember rightly, was made in the course of a
sparring match with the late Ferdinand Brunetiere over the
principles and rules of literary criticism. As was fitting for a
man to whom we owe the memorable saying, "The good critic is he
who relates the adventures of his soul amongst masterpieces," M.
Anatole France maintained that there were no rules and no
principles. And that may be very true. Rules, principles and
Some Reminiscences |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Maria, or the Wrongs of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft: her scattered thoughts!
Surprise, astonishment, that bordered on distraction, seemed
to have suspended her faculties, till, waking by degrees to a keen
sense of anguish, a whirlwind of rage and indignation roused her
torpid pulse. One recollection with frightful velocity following
another, threatened to fire her brain, and make her a fit companion
for the terrific inhabitants, whose groans and shrieks were no
unsubstantial sounds of whistling winds, or startled birds, modulated
by a romantic fancy, which amuse while they affright; but such
tones of misery as carry a dreadful certainty directly to the heart.
What effect must they then have produced on one, true to the touch
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Beasts of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: wrong, and when he had heard Mugambi's story his jaws clicked
angrily together as he knitted his brows in thought.
What could the mate hope to accomplish by taking Jane
Clayton from a camp upon a small island from which there
was no escape from the vengeance of Tarzan? The ape-man
could not believe the fellow such a fool, and then a slight
realization of the truth dawned upon him.
Schneider would not have committed such an act unless he
had been reasonably sure that there was a way by which
he could quit Jungle Island with his prisoners. But why had he
taken the black woman as well? There must have been others,
The Beasts of Tarzan |
