| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Pierre Grassou by Honore de Balzac: good fortune of men who are methodical--if Grassou, belated with his
work, had been caught by the revolution of July he would not have got
his money.
By the time he was thirty-seven Fougeres had manufactured for Elie
Magus some two hundred pictures, all of them utterly unknown, by the
help of which he had attained to that satisfying manner, that point of
execution before which the true artist shrugs his shoulders and the
bourgeoisie worships. Fougeres was dear to friends for rectitude of
ideas, for steadiness of sentiment, absolute kindliness, and great
loyalty; though they had no esteem for his palette, they loved the man
who held it.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: sort of pronounced interest, began to arouse his distrust.
But except for the felicitous pretense of deafness I had not tried
to pretend anything. I had felt utterly incapable of playing
the part of ignorance properly, and therefore was afraid to try.
It is also certain that he had brought some ready-made suspicions
with him, and that he viewed my politeness as a strange and
unnatural phenomenon. And yet how else could I have received him?
Not heartily! That was impossible for psychological reasons,
which I need not state here. My only object was to keep off
his inquiries. Surlily? Yes, but surliness might have provoked
a point-blank question. From its novelty to him and from its nature,
The Secret Sharer |
