The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-10-28
Frederick | askin's Letter.


them to construct. a story from
given personal and classified ~.
results according to grades Of ~; s-s
agination. We quote her diyi,,c..
OF imagination here because Il M.
be Of interest to the reader !.
classify his own creative facultv
The divisions are: "a The i,
ert imagination; 90 the ste,s ~
typed imagination; go the m.,c
dramatic imagination: "a the ~
eralizing imagination; Isl the n.,
ticularixing Imagination: (6l N.
ingenious or inventive imas,ns
ton.
The last class contains nAr,o,,
who construct an unusual ana i,
teresting situation from hin,
such as the personals Kiye. Ths~
avoid the obvious conclusio.
Which the stereotyped imaginat,oas
seizes upon. Their Imagination Il
stimulated easily. They do not -.
ject the plot germ in a personal "a
trivial or meaningless. as the tn.,,
imagination does.
The generalizing type of imaei,,
alton Is not specific enough for r..
tipn and the results on paper A..
apt to be distractions. This so,t
Of imagination usually accompaaia
the scientific turn of mind,
: The particularizing imagination
on the other hand. is real ASST
lance to fiction writing. The per.
son who notes the little things that
distinguish people and situations
has fiction material if he can use
it skillfully. When the fifth and
sixth types are combined Ahe DOS
SCISSOR has promising equipment
for creating stories.
. The individual who regards him
self as lacking in Imagination NAV
be encouraged by the tact that this
faculty can to some extent be de-
veloped. In recent book on the
subject Drs. Slosson and Downey
explain their experiments in train
I ing as we'll as testing the creative
imagination. They point out that
certain famous artists deliberately
stimulate their creative impulse by
I devices.
Many of the minor eccentricities
of genius appear to be the outcome
of accidental discoveries of ways
of increasing brain activity. Rous-
seau and Shelley were given to et-
posing the barred head to the hot
test of midday suns; and Whitman
wrote much of his Leaves of Grass
while prone upon the white sands
of a Long Island beach, with such q
sun as only seems to blaze there
Music and COlOrS Stimulate.
DR.. Downey further points out
\ that Darwin found scientific reflee.
lions stimulated by music, and thai
Wagner's sense of the dramatic
was heightened by the presence Of
rich fabrics and colors.
Undoubtedly, different brains re
spond to the stimulation of differ
ent senses. DR.. Downey tried ex
periments with combinations o
odors on students. Music was sim
ilarly employed to see whethe
themes would suggest striking per
|. sonalities or dramatic situations Il
: the students. Setting small group
of writer's to composing a story to
gether was still another expert
ment. Some well known writer
have produced their best work B.
the social stimulation game
through collaboration.
The experiments were not con
Quoted by the college professors s
much fer the purpose of maxim
scientific tables as to show IN
students the character OF their i'm
agination and its possibilities. DE
, vices such as those mentioned, tn
: two professors call gymnastic Ell
/ cruises for the imagination. Whe
the subject is explored further v
} may find that such exercises can ,
: reduced to scientific daily doze
] for the busy and ambitious fictlo
4 writer. He has already the class
cal precedent of the Alice in Wor
derland" queen who found it he'll
full to imagine three iIlpossiol
!, things before breakfast.