| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from At the Sign of the Cat & Racket by Honore de Balzac: sprinkled him with a fine white shower of which the scent proved that
three chins had just been shaved. Standing on tiptoe, in the farthest
corner of their loft, to enjoy their victim's rage, the lads ceased
laughing on seeing the haughty indifference with which the young man
shook his cloak, and the intense contempt expressed by his face as he
glanced up at the empty window-frame.
At this moment a slender white hand threw up the lower half of one of
the clumsy windows on the third floor by the aid of the sash runners,
of which the pulley so often suddenly gives way and releases the heavy
panes it ought to hold up. The watcher was then rewarded for his long
waiting. The face of a young girl appeared, as fresh as one of the
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Oscar Wilde Miscellaneous by Oscar Wilde: One day, however, Mr. Willard wrote that he possessed a typewritten
fragment of a play which Wilde had submitted to him, and this he
kindly forwarded for my inspection. It agreed in nearly every
particular with what I had taken so much trouble to put together.
This suggests that the opening scene had never been written, as Mr.
Willard's version began where mine did. It was characteristic of
the author to finish what he never began.
When the Literary Theatre Society produced Salome in 1906 they asked
me for some other short drama by Wilde to present at the same time,
as Salome does not take very long to play. I offered them the
fragment of A Florentine Tragedy. By a fortunate coincidence the
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner: had all I wanted. After I had driven eight months a rainy season came.
For eighteen hours out of the twenty-four we worked in the wet. The mud
went up to the axles sometimes, and we had to dig the wheels out, and we
never went far in a day. My master swore at me more than ever, but when he
had done he always offered me his brandy-flask. When I first came he had
offered it me, and I had always refused; but now I drank as my oxen did
when I gave them water--without thinking. At last I bought brandy for
myself whenever we passed an hotel.
"One Sunday we outspanned on the banks of a swollen river to wait for its
going down. It was drizzling still, so I lay under the wagon on the mud.
There was no dry place anywhere; and all the dung was wet, so there was no
|
