The New York herald., 1922-12-10

sell would nave accepted no limitation OF
his freedom. Stendhals mind was Of the
first order. His spirit above must be rag
ing with peculiarly Stendhalesque scorn
and Indignation. For the truth is that
more than one kind of intellectual cow
ardiee hides behind the literary formulas.
And Stendhal was preeminently courage
Gus. He wrote his two great novels. which
so few people have read. in a spirit of
fearless liberty.
1t must not be supposed that / claim
for the artist in fiction the freedom of
moral Nihilism. / would require from him
many acts of faith of which the first would
be the cherishing of an undying hope;
and hope. it will not be contested. implies
all the piety of effort and remuneration.
1t is the God sent form of trust in the
magic force and inspiration belonging to
the life of this earth. We are inclined TO
forget that the way of excellence is in the
intellectual, distinguished from emo
tional, humility What one feels so hope
lessly barren in declared pessimsm is just
/ its arrogance. II seems as if the discovery
made by many men al various times that
source of proud and unholy joy unto some
of the modern writer's. That frame of
mind is not the proper one in which to
approach seriously the art of fiction. 1t
gives an author-goodness only knows why
an elated sense of his own superiority.
And there is nothing more dangerous than
such an elation to that absolute loyalty
toward his feelings and sensations an au-
thor should keep hold of in his most ex-
alted moments of creation.
To be hopeful in an artistic sense ii is
not necessary to think that the world is
good. 1t is enough to believe that there
is no impossibility of its being made so.
If the flight of imaginative thought may be
allowed to rise superior to many moralties
current amongst mankind novelist who
would think himself of a superior essence
to other men would miss the first condi-
tion of his calling. To have the gift Of
words is no such great matter. a man
furnished with a long range weapon does
not become a hunter or a warrior by the
mere possession of a fire arm; many other
qualities of character and temperament are
necessary to make him either one or the
other OF him from whose armory of
phrases one in a hundred thousand may
perhaps hit the far distant and elusive
mark of art would ask that in his deal
ings with mankind he should be capable
/ of giving a tender recognition TO their OBJ
scure virtues. ! would not have him inn
patient with their small failings and scorn-
ful of their errors. l would not have
him expect too much gratitude from that
humanity whose fate, as illustrated in in
dividuals il is open to him to depict as
ridiculous or terrible. / would wish him
to look with a large forgiveness at mems
ideas and prejudices, which are by no
means the outcome of malevolenee. but
depend on their education, their social
status. even their professions The good
artist should expect no recognition of his
| toll and no admiration of his genius, be-
cause his toll can with difficulty be ap-
praised and his genius cannot possibly
mean anything to the illiterate who. even
from the dreadful wisdom OF their evoked
dead have, so far. culled nothing but in
antics and platitudes. I would wish him
to enlarge his sympathies by patient and
loving observation while he grows in men,
tai power. 1t is in the impartial practice
of life. if anywhere that the promise of
perfection for his art can be found. rather
than in the absurd formulas trying to pre-
scribe this that particular method of
| technique or conception. Let him mature
/ ~.