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第22节

a personal record-第22节

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I would have been; without doubt; saddened; for in this world



where the journalists read the signs of the sky; and the wind of



heaven itself; blowing where it listeth; does so under the



prophetical management of the meteorological office; but where



the secret of human hearts cannot be captured by prying or



praying; it was infinitely more likely that the sanest of my



friends should nurse the germ of incipient madness than that I



should turn into a writer of tales。







To survey with wonder the changes of one's own self is a



fascinating pursuit for idle hours。 The field is so wide; the



surprises so varied; the subject so full of unprofitable but



curious hints as to the work of unseen forces; that one does not



weary easily of it。  I am not speaking here of megalomaniacs who



rest uneasy under the crown of their unbounded conceitwho



really never rest in this world; and when out of it go on



fretting and fuming on the straitened circumstances of their last



habitation; where all men must lie in obscure equality。  Neither



am I thinking of those ambitious minds who; always looking



forward to some aim of aggrandizement; can spare no time for a



detached; impersonal glance upon them selves。







And that's a pity。  They are unlucky。 These two kinds; together



with the much larger band of the totally unimaginative; of those



unfortunate beings in whose empty and unseeing gaze (as a great



French writer has put it) 〃the whole universe vanishes into blank



nothingness;〃 miss; perhaps; the true task of us men whose day is



short on this earth; the abode of conflicting opinions。  The



ethical view of the universe involves us at last in so many cruel



and absurd contradictions; where the last vestiges of faith;



hope; charity; and even of reason itself; seem ready to perish;



that I have come to suspect that the aim of creation cannot be



ethical at all。  I would fondly believe that its object is purely



spectacular: a spectacle for awe; love; adoration; or hate; if



you like; but in this viewand in this view alonenever for



despair!  Those visions; delicious or poignant; are a moral end



in themselves。  The rest is our affairthe laughter; the tears;



the tenderness; the indignation; the high tranquillity of a



steeled heart; the detached curiosity of a subtle mindthat's



our affair!  And the unwearied self…forgetful attention to every



phase of the living universe reflected in our consciousness may



be our appointed task on this eartha task in which fate has



perhaps engaged nothing of us except our conscience; gifted with



a voice in order to bear true testimony to the visible wonder;



the haunting terror; the infinite passion; and the illimitable



serenity; to the supreme law and the abiding mystery of the



sublime spectacle。







Chi lo sa?  It may be true。  In this view there is room for every



religion except for the inverted creed of impiety; the mask and



cloak of arid despair; for every joy and every sorrow; for every



fair dream; for every charitable hope。  The great aim is to



remain true to the emotions called out of the deep encircled by



the firmament of stars; whose infinite numbers and awful



distances may move us to laughter or tears (was it the Walrus or



the Carpenter; in the poem; who 〃wept to see such quantities of



sand〃?); or; again; to a properly steeled heart; may matter



nothing at all。







The casual quotation; which had suggested itself out of a poem



full of merit; leads me to remark that in the conception of a



purely spectacular universe; where inspiration of every sort has



a rational existence; the artist of every kind finds a natural



place; and among them the poet as the seer par excellence。  Even



the writer of prose; who in his less noble and more toilsome task



should be a man with the steeled heart; is worthy of a place;



providing he looks on with undimmed eyes and keeps laughter out



of his voice; let who will laugh or cry。  Yes!  Even he; the



prose artist of fiction; which after all is but truth often



dragged out of a well and clothed in the painted robe of imagined



phraseseven he has his place among kings; demagogues; priests;



charlatans; dukes; giraffes; cabinet ministers; Fabians;



bricklayers; apostles; ants; scientists; Kafirs; soldiers;



sailors; elephants; lawyers; dandies; microbes; and



constellations of a universe whose amazing spectacle is a moral



end in itself。







Here I perceive (without speaking offense) the reader assuming a



subtle expression; as if the cat were out of the bag。  I take the



novelist's freedom to observe the reader's mind formulating the



exclamation: 〃That's it!  The fellow talks pro domo。〃







Indeed it was not the intention!  When I shouldered the bag I was



not aware of the cat inside。  But; after all; why not?  The fair



courtyards of the House of Art are thronged by many humble



retainers。  And there is no retainer so devoted as he who is



allowed to sit on the doorstep。  The fellows who have got inside



are apt to think too much of themselves。  This last remark; I beg



to state; is not malicious within the definition of the law of



libel。  It's fair comment on a matter of public interest。  But



never mind。 Pro domo。  So be it。  For his house tant que vous



voudrez。  And yet in truth I was by no means anxious to justify



my existence。  The attempt would have been not only needless and



absurd; but almost inconceivable; in a purely spectacular



universe; where no such disagreeable necessity can possibly



arise。  It is sufficient for me to say (and I am saying it at



some length in these pages): J'ai vecu。  I have existed; obscure



among the wonders and terrors of my time; as the Abbe Sieyes; the



original utterer of the quoted words; had managed to exist



through the violences; the crimes; and the enthusiasms of the



French Revolution。  J'ai vecu; as I apprehend most of us manage



to exist; missing all along the varied forms of destruction by a



hair's…breadth; saving my body; that's clear; and perhaps my soul



also; but not without some damage here and there to the fine edge



of my conscience; that heirloom of the ages; of the race; of the



group; of the family; colourable and plastic; fashioned by the



words; the looks; the acts; and even by the silences and



abstentions surrounding one's childhood; tinged in a complete



scheme of delicate shades and crude colours by the inherited



traditions; beliefs; or prejudicesunaccountable; despotic;



persuasive; and often; in its texture; romantic。







And often romantic! 。 。 。  The matter in hand; however; is to



keep these reminiscences from turning into confessions; a form of



literary activity discredited by Jean Jacques Rousseau on account



of the extreme thoroughness he brought to the work of justifying



his own existence; for that such was his purpose is palpably;



even grossly; visible to an unprejudiced eye。  But then; you see;



the man was not a writer of fiction。  He was an artless moralist;



as is clearly demonstrated by his anniversaries being celebrated



with marked emphasis by the heirs of the French Revolution; which



was not a political movement at all; but a great outburst of



morality。  He had no imagination; as the most casual perusal of



〃Emile〃 will prove。  He was no novelist; whose first virtue is



the exact understanding of the limits traced by the reality of



his time to the play of his invention。  Inspiration comes from



the earth; which has a past; a history; a future; not from the



cold and immutable heaven。  A writer of imaginative prose (even



more than any other sort of artist) stands confessed in his



works。  His conscience; his deeper sense of things; lawful and



unlawful; gives him his attitude before the world。  Indeed;



everyone who puts pen to paper for the reading of strangers



(unless a moralist; who; generally speaking; has no conscience



except the one he is at pains to produce for the use of others)



can speak of nothing else。  It is M。 Anatole France; the most



eloquent and just of French prose…writers; who says that we must



recognize at last that; 〃failing the resolution to hold our



peace; we can only talk of ourselves。〃







This remark; if I remember rightly; was made in the course of a



sparring match with the late Ferdinand Brunetiere over the



principles and rules of literary criticism。  As was fitting for a



man to whom we owe the memorable saying; 〃The good critic is he



who relates the adventures of his soul among ma

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