The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-11-23
GENIUS and LOVE
DEBATE STIRRING
BRITISH WRITER'S
D1GH i 1UlA V1t1lIACU
One Group Maintains Su-
permen Cannot Really
Be True


man" CAPABLE of true affection? All
England is discussing the point, and
authors and artists, some of whom may
almost be called ''supermN' them
selves. have taken sides. An article
by Lady Norah Bentinck, who speaks
of the sordid intrigues and paltry
amours which mar the memory of great
men," gave rise to the controversy.
Lady Norah takes Abraham Lincoln
ms one of the inspiring instances of
true and constant love being an accom-
plishment of true greatness, and ac-
cents as most accurate that version of
Lincoln's life which emphasizes the fact
that his real love, lay buried with
Anne Rutledge," and that his marriage
wears later was the domestic union of
Il good citizen. y"
BURNS, Shelley and Byron. she says,
"were quite impossible in conven-
tional state of society. Their love at
fairs may have been more in the nature
of unconscious experiments, If may
say so, with the rejection sooner or later
of the woman who proved to be much
less the complete angel than the poet
had imagined"
Lord Charnwod, the author OF one
Of the best biographies of the great
American statesman, joins issues with
Lady Norah on her use OF the word
''supermen"
II have paid no particular attention
to the rather shadowy information
which exists about Lincoln's earliest
love affair."" he says, "* but l will
say that the idea implied in the word
superman is one which l heartily dis
believe. [ belie.e that great men dit
fer from one another in the same in
finity of ways in wn,ch little men like
ourselves do l believe that they are al
together fashioned out of the same clay,
exposed to the same trials, sustained
by the same helps, and capable OF in
SEPARATION by the same spirit as the rest
of lis"
Supermen like Others
Much the same opinion is held by w.
L. George. the novelist, who, when
asked whether he thought supermen ca
pable of true affection, replie Il do
not think that supermen are different
from othe men in matters of love. Lin
coin is faithful to an ideal while Shell
ley is loose. Mr.. Brown of Chicago is a
faithful husband, while Mr.. Thompson
of San Francisco is a rake. That Is
all. Even genuises are human
H. de We're Stacpoole introduces the
superwoman in the case. Il not unim-
portant factor, and does not attribute
to the male, super or otherwise, a great
deal of free will in the matter.
F. Derwent Wood, r. A, the sculptor,
in claiming special consideration for the
superman who errs, holds the somewhat
unorthodox view that the great gifts of
the superman entitle him to less strict
Judgment for his weaknesses than the
normal man. He says:
Il hope the supermen are capable of
true affection, just as much as they
are capable Of hatred, envy and malice
toward both sexes. Some supermen
have capacity for Disgusting these ten
denotes in :; greater degree than 9TH
ers. The beauty of a superman is the
fact that he possesses the same weak
nesses as the ordinary mortal, but the
tendency of his admirers is to overlook
his little failings, or rather to glorify
his greatness of character and quietly
forgive his sins.
This is right and fitting, for it is
an easy matter to criticize ana con-
denim. A 'superman' should have a
greater allowance of indulgence in sin
or accentricities than a poor mortal, for
he brings to the world great and inesti-
mable gifts. l imagine the union of a
'superman' with a 'superwoman' would
very soon lead to litigation
Love Lives On Love
Hardly less provocative are the views
of Horace Annesley Vachell. The
question bristles with difficulties" he
says. Love, faithful love, lives on
love and starves without it. Probably
superman is so tngrossed with his
ambitions and activities that he is
often incapable of faithful love-
c. r. w. Nevinson. the artist, hits
out in characteristic fashion in the fol-
lowing reply: art only should be de-
manded from an artist. and poetry from
a poet. The private life of either is no
business of anybody else, and. in any
case, their morals have no influence
whatsoever on their work. Art is not
life. The lives of. great men may be
excessively virtous in ono case, and ex-
cessively scandalous in another.
Il do not understand the phrase 'su-
permen'; but if we assume it to mean
those who, like Abraham Lincoln. gave
the most to the world l still fail to see
why we should link their social value
with their moral standards Artists
may be supposed to be dissipated. lit
erary men drunken. and stage people
promiscuous. But it does not follow
that all disipees are artists. all drunk
ards literary men. and all of promiscu-
Gus nature actors.
art is so excessively difficult that
there is really little time for love or
anything else between the vital ages of
20 and 40''