The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1922-12-07
marked the end of Charlemagne's reign

Research, did he say? My o N.Y. Nose
over cpy of Francois Villon, no. Fran
co.'s de Montcorbier same thing. Brown
eyes across table, lift nose, good bye Fran
co.'s. Meet me at the Lib. Same as mot
de Penigme The one on my right. What
am l thinking? Think. Am l? Middle
ages it is. Hatred of life, resignation of
the Christian, struggle between man and
man, beginning new forms. Church or
ganized in political system. Ethical, re-
ligions called. Aesthetics ready to pop, not
quite time. Soon though. War and
rumors of war. Scholars stink into holes
in ground, called monasteries. Rise of
Francs. Then French. Language. And
out of it all: vaults, belfries, towers, for
gotten manuscripts but few names. Anony-
nous Age, the of course. Must tell Buzz,
say why is woman like Medieval Period,
answer: The Anonymous Age. Don't
sound just right, though. Point
inverted spoils. Probably forget any
way. What's all got to do with litera-
ture? Formative period. Renaissance, ex-
plosion of Aesthetics. Leads up to revival
of culture. All connected like string
weiners. Awakening of bellies lettres.
Shakespeare, queer how he came out then.
Hows that go, Socrates begat Plato begat
Aristotle begat, begat begat. Begotten
not made. Look that up again sometime
Prof L. Roy Lander extracted his watch
from vest pocket, placed it on the stand,
noted the minutes, thumbed over the re-
mainng notes, estimating words against
time. Going to do some cutting now, looks
as though. Temptation to enlarge too
great. Expand when warmed up. Schools?
Never has there been such a conflict of
aesthetics, such an upheaval and refuting
of ideas in the artistic word as appeared at
this time. Romanticism in full armour
clashing with naked Realism while the
Symbolists, as yet unncticed, stood Ly
awaiting the outcome. In the Naturalism
of lola, pointing its finger towards the
modern spirit as the Romanticists had
done in their time there is the element of
a life surrounded by science. And side by
side into the consciousness creeps the white
and gray flags of Symbolism and the De-
cadents. No man can be greater than his
time and if the greatness of Shakespeare
appears more universal now than the
Coincide Humane of Balzac or the Ulysses
of James Joyce it is only because of the
number of centuries which have given time
for Macbeth to become saturated in the
minds of the people In order to keep
these schools and movements clearly in
mind without losing their relation to one
another and to time, l have outlined for
you a separate course of outside reading
covering each new idea in the order of its
appearance, which will be announced at
the beginning of the second quarter. While
this unsettled condition went on, there
arose, especially in England and America,
and perhaps as a result of the conflict be-
tween the old and the newer movements,
a mental status which has come to be
known as the Victorian era.
Peculiar way he has of spreading his
mouth around vowels. Victorian prudes.
Thomas stole a glance towards the girl at
his right. Wonder if she is. Never can
tell. Funny thing: one studies literature
backwards, begin with Dickens Hugo,
Tennyson, Scott, Stephenson, Field, Ger
vantes, on into Emerson, Thoreau, La
Rochefoucald, Houbert, Balzac, Gautier,
lola, Flaubert, Goncourt, Puskin. Then
burrow into Latin, then Hebrew, then
Greek. Then try to remember what's it
all about! Come back, do all over again.
Same mistakes. Start at beginning and
work towards present Too late, every
thing muddled already. Aught pick out
few, throw rest away. Right. Tennyson,
what's he say about him? Poet? Rhyms-
ter! Byron, Shelly, Beaudelaire, Eliot, A.
E., poets Whittier Guest, Riley, sentiment