| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Shadow Line by Joseph Conrad: own words--"try and eat something." I don't
know that the trial was very successful. I sup-
pose at that period I did exist on food in the usual
way; but the memory is now that in those days life
was sustained on invincible anguish, as a sort of
infernal stimulant exciting and consuming at the
same time.
It's the only period of my life in which I at-
tempted to keep a diary. No, not the only one.
Years later, in conditions of moral isolation, I did
put down on paper the thoughts and events of a
The Shadow Line |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Hated Son by Honore de Balzac: formerly so hard, but now marked with tints which softened its
expression. The reflections of the setting sun colored with a faintly
ruddy tinge the head, which, in spite of all infirmities, was still
vigorous. The feeble body, wrapped in brown garments, gave, by its
heavy attitude and the absence of all movement, a vivid impression of
the monotonous existence, the terrible repose of this man once so
active, so enterprising, so vindictive.
"Enough!" he said to his chaplain.
That venerable old man was reading aloud the Gospel, standing before
the master in a respectful attitude. The duke, like an old menagerie
lion which has reached a decrepitude that is still full of majesty,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Pool in the Desert by Sara Jeanette Duncan: either of us would have preferred to grill out our days in the
plains; we always had a saving clause for the climate, the altitude,
the scenery; it was Simla intrinsic, Simla as its other conditions
made it, with which we found such liberal fault. Again I should
have to explain Simla, at the length of an essay at least, to
justify our condemnation. This difficulty confronts me everywhere.
I must ask you instead to imagine a small colony of superior--very
superior--officials, of British origin and traditions, set on the
top of a hill, years and miles away from literature, music,
pictures, politics, existing like a harem on the gossip of the
Viceroy's intentions, and depending for amusement on tennis and
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