登陆注册
5380500000222

第222章

This much as preliminary to this remark: some day people will be able to call each other up from any part of the world and talk by mental telegraph--and not merely by impression, the impression will be articulated into words.It could be a terrible thing, but it won't be, because in the upper civilizations everything like sentimentality (I was going to say sentiment) will presently get materialized out of people along with the already fading spiritualities; and so when a man is called who doesn't wish to talk he will be like those visitors you mention: "not chosen"--and will be frankly damned and shut off.

Speaking of the ill luck of starting a piece of literary work wrong-and again and again; always aware that there is a way, if you could only think it out, which would make the thing slide effortless from the pen-the one right way, the sole form for you, the other forms being for men whose line those forms are, or who are capabler than yourself: I've had no end of experience in that (and maybe I am the only one--let us hope so.) Last summer I started 16 things wrong--3 books and 13 mag.

articles--and could only make 2 little wee things, 1500 words altogether, succeed:--only that out of piles and stacks of diligently-wrought MS., the labor of 6 weeks' unremitting effort.I could make all of those things go if I would take the trouble to re-begin each one half a dozen times on a new plan.But none of them was important enough except one:

the story I (in the wrong form) mapped out in Paris three or four years ago and told you about in New York under seal of confidence--no other person knows of it but Mrs.Clemens--the story to be called "Which was the Dream?"A week ago I examined the MS--10,000 words--and saw that the plan was a totally impossible one-for me; but a new plan suggested itself, and straightway the tale began to slide from the pen with ease and confidence.I think I've struck the right one this time.I have already put 12,000 words of it on paper and Mrs.Clemens is pretty outspokenly satisfied with it-a hard critic to content.I feel sure that all of the first half of the story--and I hope three-fourths--will be comedy; but by the former plan the whole of it (except the first 3 chapters) would have been tragedy and unendurable, almost.I think I can carry the reader a long way before he suspects that I am laying a tragedy-trap.In the present form I could spin 16 books out of it with comfort and joy; but Ishall deny myself and restrict it to one.(If you should see a little short story in a magazine in the autumn called "My Platonic Sweetheart"(written 3 weeks ago) that is not this one.It may have been a suggester, though.

I expect all these singular privacies to interest you, and you are not to let on that they don't.

We are leaving, this afternoon, for Ischl, to use that as a base for the baggage, and then gad around ten days among the lakes and mountains to rest-up Mrs.Clemens, who is jaded with housekeeping.I hope I can get a chance to work a little in spots--I can't tell.But you do it--therefore why should you think I can't?

[Remainder missing.]

The dream story was never completed.It was the same that he had worked on in London, and perhaps again in Switzerland.It would be tried at other times and in other forms, but it never seemed to accommodate itself to a central idea, so that the good writing in it eventually went to waste.The short story mentioned, "My Platonic Sweetheart," a charming, idyllic tale, was not published during Mark Twain's lifetime.Two years after his death it appeared in Harper's Magazine.

The assassination of the Empress of Austria at Geneva was the startling event of that summer.In a letter to Twichell Clemens presents the tragedy in a few vivid paragraphs.Later he treated it at some length in a magazine article which, very likely because of personal relations with members of the Austrian court, he withheld from print.It has since been included in a volume of essays, What Is Man, etc.

To Rev.J.H.Twichell, in Hartford:

KALTENLEUTGEBEN, Sep.13, '98.

DEAR JOE,-- You are mistaken; people don't send us the magazines.No--Harper, Century and McClure do; an example I should like to recommend to other publishers.And so I thank you very much for sending me Brander's article.When you say "I like Brander Matthews; he impresses me as a man of parts and power," I back you, right up to the hub--I feel the same way--.And when you say he has earned your gratitude for cuffing me for my crimes against the Leather stockings and the Vicar, I ain't making any objection.Dern your gratitude!

His article is as sound as a nut.Brander knows literature, and loves it; he can talk about it and keep his temper; he can state his case so lucidly and so fairly and so forcibly that you have to agree with him, even when you don't agree with him; and he can discover and praise such merits as a book has, even when they are half a dozen diamonds scattered through an acre of mud.And so he has a right to be a critic.

To detail just the opposite of the above invoice is to describe me.Ihaven't any right to criticise books, and I don't do it except when Ihate them.I often want to criticise Jane Austen, but her books madden me so that I can't conceal my frenzy from the reader; and therefore Ihave to stop every time I begin.

同类推荐
  • 瑜伽莲华部念诵法

    瑜伽莲华部念诵法

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 青天歌注释

    青天歌注释

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 六十种曲琴心记

    六十种曲琴心记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 闵公

    闵公

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 天台传佛心印记

    天台传佛心印记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 无量寿经

    无量寿经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 世界著名教育思想家:布鲁纳

    世界著名教育思想家:布鲁纳

    本书介绍布鲁纳的教育思想及其对当代教育的启示,从布鲁纳教育名篇入手,结合现实教育问题深入浅出,重在普及世界教育名著的基本思想,增强阅读者的教育理论基本修养。
  • 刑法原理与实务

    刑法原理与实务

    为适应法律职业教育的需要,培养学生处理法律实务的工作能力,宁夏司法警官职业学院组织本校承担专业课程教学的骨干教师编写了系列教材,这本《刑法原理与实务》就是其中一部。
  • 重生娱乐圈之名门盛婚

    重生娱乐圈之名门盛婚

    本文已出版。出版名《你好,小青梅》。她是山区里飞出的金凤凰,她是嫁入豪门的灰姑娘,她是娱乐圈光芒璀璨的三栖巨星,她是华娱传媒幕后最神秘的掌控者。她是这个世界最美丽的奇迹,她是林思琪,重生在残酷命运的转折点,于万众瞩目之中,成就屹立不倒的盛世传奇!……作为一个重生的妹纸,林姑娘最想做的事,和相爱的男人谈一场干净纯粹的恋爱。但素,谁能告诉她,为神马那个和她死亡时间一致的老公不见鸟!……他是十七岁就坐拥万千家财的青城首富,他是京城楚家流落在外的名门之后,他是寰宇集团皎若月华的美男总裁!翻手为云覆手雨,听说,私底下大伙称呼他,教父?风光霁月、清雅如玉,这是人前!冷漠凉薄、散漫桀骜,这是人后!……后来,林菇凉默默的发现,这一世的宋先生好难搞。那啥,还要搞咩?咩。……男主伪高冷真流氓,女主属性略呆萌。贴上甜甜哒小剧场:……【一、结婚】看着茶几上两个红本本,林姑娘目瞪口呆:“这是?”“结婚证。”某男淡淡抬眸,见她诧异,笑了笑,补充道:“我们的结婚证。”“我知道。”林姑娘一时语塞,脸蛋红红:“我是想问,嗯,为什么你会有我们的结婚证?”“哦?”某男微微挑眉,修长白皙的手指捏起其中一个,递了过去,散漫而笑:“给,你也有。一人一个。”林姑娘:“……”重点真的不是这个好吗?重点是,你为什么一个人就领了结婚证?!【二、萌宝】清晨,落地窗外阳光正好。林姑娘小口的啃着面包,看着对面三双漂亮清澈的琉璃眸子,语带试探道:“嗯。可能有个小宝宝以后要和你们一起玩了。”对面喝牛奶的三只小萌宝齐齐住口,仰头看过来。萌宝一:“没意见。只要不是弟弟就好。”萌宝二:“没意见。只要不是哥哥和弟弟就好。”萌宝三看着麻麻欲哭无泪的一张脸,话锋一转,软软糯糯道:“麻麻,生个萌萌哒的小宝宝和我玩吧。只要不是哥哥就好啦。”林姑娘:……楼上下来的某男愣在当场,目光落在老婆平坦的小腹上,整个人都感觉不好了!怀孕鸟?能回到当夜戴个套么?【一对一宠文,男女主身心干净,娱乐圈元素,豪门总裁系,《影后》姐妹篇,林思琪和宋望重生的故事,亲爱滴们,欢迎跳坑么么哒】
  • 斩鸦

    斩鸦

    【反武侠】窃国者诸侯,窃钩者诛。吃白斩鸭容易,斩“鸦”却很难。杀人复仇容易,诛心亡魂却很难。那个没心没肺的开朗少年本只想做个得过且过的小偷,但一个所谓的“荡魔炼剑”却让他不得不走上了一条斩乌杀道的不归路。ps:简介以后大概会换,感觉比正文还难写==ps:无系统无异能无魔法无黑科技无金手指无德无耻主角一枚,在光怪陆离神鬼共存的江湖谋一线生机......
  • 封骥

    封骥

    东风吹破少年梦,从此再无赤子心。大陆因长安而聚变。
  • 中锋不死

    中锋不死

    四大中锋或将谢幕,新老内线的交替,上演那个年代的热血满腔。有着不一样的背景,“穿二代”墨惜,96的一员,从一个被虐的稀碎稀碎的菜鸟,成长为中锋传统的守夜人,开创壮阔的中锋王朝
  • 中华异想集·鱼妇

    中华异想集·鱼妇

    连续七天的阴雨让整个城市沉浸在一种潮湿的气氛中,就是在这样的天气里,异味古董咖啡馆里来了一个带着大水箱的奇怪客人,而水箱里面、身上带着美丽鱼鳞的怪物到底是人还是鱼呢?似鱼似人的怪物——鱼妇背后原来隐藏着一连串的阴谋!同时随之而来的,还有唐草薇急剧恶化的衰退和……奇怪复活的桑国雪?山雨欲来风满楼,这一切的一切,又将发展怎么样的局面?暗藏危机的《中华异想集·鱼妇》清凉上市……
  • 重生空间种田:铁血摄政王妃

    重生空间种田:铁血摄政王妃

    楚家村的小村姑楚灵被自家奶奶一两银子卖给隔壁村暴发户高老爷,撞墙而亡。再次睁眼,灵魂却已是现代铁血手腕叱咤商业的集团女总裁,看着四面透风的茅草房,包子爹娘,营养不良的兄弟姐妹。楚灵只想仰天长啸,好在老天待她不薄,空间在手,种田,酿酒,开铺带着全家奔小康。什么?想来打秋风。抱歉,此路不通。可是,身后的妖孽怎么粘人?亲,说好的高贵冷酷吊炸天呢?
  • 这样读资治通鉴(第3部)

    这样读资治通鉴(第3部)

    青年学子亦可从中学到有别于课堂上的历史讲述,一部一直放在毛泽东床头的大书,一部曾经让毛泽东读了17遍的大书,《资治通鉴》是中国人的管理智慧。这样读《资治通鉴》,是为官者的管理智慧,是企业家的MBA教材,是奋斗者的行为指南。