The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-07-20
ITALIAN AUTHOR TALKS
D'ANNUNZIO, THE FAMOUS NOVELIST,
DIsCOURsEs ABOUT HIMSELF.
shows of S~eIf-COnceit,
and Incidentally Criticises
Other Writers.


rosy and gay D'Annunzio in mind when I
STEPPED into his room at the hotel this morn
ing, and almost withdrew my outstretched
hand on meeting a bald-headed, wrinkled
and melancholy man. aged before his time.
But now when, on recognizing the school
mate, he smiled / saw that he was und
mentally the same as nineteen years ago.
D'Annunzio's smile is that of the pretty
woman. but not unmanly for all that, para
doxical as it may sound. Presently he be-
gan tc talk. I was tagged out by the long
journey and let him bear the burden Of the
conversation.
Talk OF D'Annunzio's influence on Duse-
may 1t be ever so great, the diva is under
no obligations to the author. for she taught
him the greatest and, at the same time, the
most neglected Of gifts-eloquence.
II is like listening TO Bernhardt and
Calve to hear D'Annunzio tell a story. He
combines all the arts-speech, song, acting,
portraiture and music-in his vivid CONVEX
sation, yet without ever becoming declama-
tory or tiresome. His voice IS soft and his
vocabulary probably the most extensive in
the power of any living man. D'Annunzio
can turn a simple 'goood morning or
'how do you do?' into a symphony without
laying himself open to the charge of arti-
hciality.
L cannot do better than reproduce here
in my own simple language what he told
me of himself. his ambitions. his mode of
work and his adventures in the political
arena. If the story does not read like a
poets do not blame D'Annunzio; the re-
porter is at fault.
D'ANNUNZIO'S OWN STORY.
THE best I have done. according TO my
own notions and the critics, gave me little
bother in the execution at least. I just
sat down, pen in hand, and wrote what
heart and brain dictated. There is. for
instance, that famous episode in the
Canzone Di Garibaldi; it is full of enduring
beauty and perhaps the best of them ALL
Yet 1 wrote it in one breath, so to speak.
A single night suficed TO enrich the world
Of literature with this incompatible gem,
as it has been styled.
1.-THE reason is simple enough. Beautiful
and grand passages are conceived by me
months. often years. before their actual
birth. 1 carry them around with me, think
ing of them every little while, often spend
ing days and nights perfecting them in my
mind. Every genius does the same. L be-
lieve, but not all poets have the pleasure
Of seeing the children of their brain born
without Flemish, perfect beings-as perfect
as 1 can bring them forth anyhow. Unlike
Heine, Tolstoi and others, 1 do not file.
You will not find ten corrections in a hun
dred pages of my manuscript. Not that I
consider myself perfect; I simply can't do
better after a poem or sentence. or chap
ter, has once matured i'm my mind.
to the complaint of many authors on
the throes of composition, 1 do not know
that feeling. All my works have sprung
into existence with one b~Ound-no doctor
necessary or wanted Whenever a work
gives me difficulties, I consign it to the fire
as deficient. 1 know ii will not have my APP
prevail after it is finished and waste no time
on il.
But do not think that I'm a mere stenog-
rapher tipping impressions sent up by the
soul. as the operator types words and SEN
fences from dictation. 1 laugh and cry
with my characters, almost die with them.
Whatever happens to them happens to me-.
fguratively speaking. If my hero sits down
TO a feast of love, the fondest recollections
Of my youth and early manhood rise up in
me. l am young, gay, reckless-ah. 1 wear
those engaging locks again with which the
American papers persist in adjoining my
head now as in days gone by. A mothers
sorrow. a maids distress, a mans rage or
shame I feel 1t here laying his hand on his
heartl. and feel it deeply. so much so as to
cause me physical pain.
FINDS 1T HARD WORK.
However. you would be in error to as
sumo that l get my knowledge Of men and
things by Inspiration only. Though it is
my good fortune to be endowed with a fer
tile imagination. l study hard to acquire
thorough mastery of every subject in hand
and to avoid such bad plumbers as distin-
guish the works of many of my colleagues
among contemporary authors.
II venture to say, 1T would be quite i'm
possible for me to make a hanson cab door
open with a handle from the inside, as did
Mr.. Zangwill in one OF his recent novels.
If 1 were not observing enough TO know
better. 1 would study the construction Of a
vehicle of that kind in a catalogue.
1.-The reading of King SoIomon's Mines
where Haggard introduces an eclipse Of the
new moon, taught me to study the nature
Of things to avoid making them perform
acts contrary to nature. There are some
authors whose suns set IN the east. lola,
supposed to be very pedantic and accurate,
lets his deaf and dumb recover their hear
ing and sight in Lourdes.'
ct am never guilty OF such stupidities,
because 1 earnestly prepare for my work.
If 1 proposed to write on the gait Of horses
or the length Of brain curvatures, for in
stance, I would not set down my observa-
ton or figures until I had thoroughly d.
gested the best available statistics and
literature on the subject.
But 1 never take notes, no matter how
difficult the thing may be. If a theme does
not impress itself upon my mind in such a
way as TO stick there and allow Of repeti-
ton in my own style then I will not have
anything to do with it. I follow the same
principle with regard to foreign words
what L cannot master 1 leave severely
alone.
II make II a practice TO devote an hour
every day to the study OF some dictionary,
Italian or French. general, special or
technical. I am credited with possessing
the most extensive vocabulary OF any living
man, both in speech and writing. My devo-
ton TO dictionary reading explains this in