The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-13
GENIUS.
with Some Reflections on Beauty. Tear,
Love, Spasms and Motor Cars.

Love. Spasnis ana Motor Cars.
To TIE EDITOR OF THE sUN-Sir: Mr..
Gustav Kobbs has been kind enough to point
out the vital weakness OF those liz erary
-geniuses' who. by the very malady in their
veins. fail to reach the automobile stage Of
prosperity. The germs OF this weakness be
has discovered in my letter In THE Sun of
December 3. Mr.. Kobbe's vision penetrates
into the density OF things,
Mr.. Kobbe has unauestionably done the
public a service. IL is not given to the or
binary mind to transcend the unknown and
pluck from beyond the sinking and cowardiy
backdoor aspect OF things. They have
he writ s. what often is misconstrued az
genius-an abnormal desire to produce some
thing great without a corresponding creative
faculty"
A statue OF Apollo may look perchancs
like a giraffe OF an ostrich. a long way on
and In q bad light: but the reasonable OBJ
server will not decide on II 0ntil he has got
to where he can see the reality. MIR. Kobb4
doesn't need to get close. A mere flash OF
his eye and the truth drops like a deadly pail.
cannot, however. agree with Mr.. Kobbe
that the severest strain to which a real genius
can be subjected is the sight OF successful
mediocrities whizzing by in their motor cars.
Not knowing precisely what real genius
MY tentatively on the subject; but / should
say that in the long run a real. simon pure
genius sTas,s Would ~ tb be . SpS TO Of D %Ssor G %Oss even Sr 1e az
meal time. The tendency OF the age is less
and less toward violent emotions.
genius viii walk the streets and meet these
whizzing mediocrities without a ."spasm."
nation. Al true seniuses should take note
that. whatever failings they may have. what
ever psrplexities MAJ engulf them. whatever
gruelling tortures they may endure, they will
never. syen At the sight OF z .Sh im
M kobbe sees in the writer one Of those
impotent and hopeless wretches VINO weep at
q world which is crumbling around mem
their arm and bolster II up. IL may be keen
Judgment. but it is not altogether a Kindly
Mr.. Kobbe appear. TO be genuinely. &c;
auainted with some OF the trials. OF the real
chief hardship. az he seems to think-and he
In undoubts dly honest and sincere In his in
~tention. But he is defending an idea. There
seems to be no particular Advantage in starv-
ing to death even for an ordinary person;
in fact. nothing could be further from human
A writer who Is not a genius will 30 70 work
before he will consent 10 TINS unstable con-
ditlon, even IL he has 70 tackle some Snen
or. II might be. the making OF motor cars;
Mr.. Kobbe seems also TO be acquainted with
the extreme cases OF sacrifice in the lie OF
genius. IL is a grim picture. The all wool
genius will sacrifice everything IN extreme
cases. ever, the greatest thing IN the world:
impulse"
| can hardly believe this Is So, One OF the
best and safest things about genius is that u
has some faint glimmering Of the truth. 1t
does not seize upon the lesser and throw
the greater away. But Mr.. Kobbe does not
here deal with the particular, he does not say
that genius would sacrifice the love OF ono
particular woman: IL would throw over the
whole sex. rip out all the OF love, leav:
ing Its heart bare and clean for the sole and
fixed purpose of it's existence starvation.
and the federation OF whizzers.
II this is the result of creative impulse
then creative impulse must be a blasting
thing-a cursed sore to the world, Imitation
genius Is at least free from this leprosy.
Why, above all. should the creator OF "whiz-
ling mediocrities" feel il necessary to reveal
to the most Int llig gent and critical audience
in the world that genius does not whine?
II seems to me. upon deep reflection. that
Mr.. Kobbs is a little wide of the mark. but I
am willing to grant that 1t was not inten-
tiOnal.
/ would like to take this opportunity to
correct the impression conveyed by The
SUNS heading of my previous letter-that l
had a grievance against magazine editors.
We must not expect too much of publications
advertisements THREE STARS.
PITTsFfRLp, Mass, December II.