| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Virginibus Puerisque by Robert Louis Stevenson: society. When the torrent sweeps the man against a boulder,
you must expect him to scream, and you need not be surprised
if the scream is sometimes a theory. Shelley, chafing at the
Church of England, discovered the cure of all evils in
universal atheism. Generous lads irritated at the injustices
of society, see nothing for it but the abolishment of
everything and Kingdom Come of anarchy. Shelley was a young
fool; so are these cocksparrow revolutionaries. But it is
better to be a fool than to be dead. It is better to emit a
scream in the shape of a theory than to be entirely insensible
to the jars and incongruities of life and take everything as
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Massimilla Doni by Honore de Balzac: The doctor whispered a few words to Vendramin, and la Tinti was
uneasy.
"What are you plotting?" she inquired of the Prince's friend.
"Are you kind-hearted?" said the doctor in her ear, with the sternness
of an operator.
The words pierced to her comprehension like a dagger-thrust to her
heart.
"It is to save Emilio's life," added Vendramin.
"Come here," said the doctor to Clarina.
The hapless singer rose and went to the other end of the table where,
between Vendramin and the Frenchman, she looked like a criminal
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence: little mongrel arriviste, and uneducated bounder of the worst sort.
Mongrel and bounder or not, he jumped to his own conclusions. He didn't
merely walk round them with millions of words, in the parade of the
life of the mind.
Connie quite liked the life of the mind, and got a great thrill out of
it. But she did think it overdid itself a little. She loved being
there, amidst the tobacco smoke of those famous evenings of the
cronies, as she called them privately to herself. She was infinitely
amused, and proud too, that even their talking they could not do,
without her silent presence. She had an immense respect for
thought...and these men, at least, tried to think honestly. But somehow
Lady Chatterley's Lover |
