| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Girl with the Golden Eyes by Honore de Balzac: sculptor is bent before his statue; the journalist is a marching
thought, like the soldier when at war; the painter who is the fashion
is crushed with work, the painter with no occupation, if he feels
himself to be a man of genius, gnaws his entrails. Competition,
rivalry, calumny assail talent. Some, in desperation, plunge into the
abyss of vice, others die young and unknown because they have
discounted their future too soon. Few of these figures, originally
sublime, remain beautiful. On the other hand, the flagrant beauty of
their heads is not understood. An artist's face is always exorbitant,
it is always above or below the conventional lines of what fools call
the /beau-ideal/. What power is it that destroys them? Passion. Every
The Girl with the Golden Eyes |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Statesman by Plato: hand those whose natures tend rather to courage, which is the stronger
element and may be regarded as the warp, and on the other hand those which
incline to order and gentleness, and which are represented in the figure as
spun thick and soft, after the manner of the woof--these, which are
naturally opposed, she seeks to bind and weave together in the following
manner:
YOUNG SOCRATES: In what manner?
STRANGER: First of all, she takes the eternal element of the soul and
binds it with a divine cord, to which it is akin, and then the animal
nature, and binds that with human cords.
YOUNG SOCRATES: I do not understand what you mean.
Statesman |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield: "Not at all," said Mr. Farolles gently. He drew his kid gloves through his
fingers and leaned forward. "And if either of you would like a little
Communion, either or both of you, here and now, you have only to tell me.
A little Communion is often very help--a great comfort," he added tenderly.
But the idea of a little Communion terrified them. What! In the drawing-
room by themselves--with no--no altar or anything! The piano would be much
too high, thought Constantia, and Mr. Farolles could not possibly lean over
it with the chalice. And Kate would be sure to come bursting in and
interrupt them, thought Josephine. And supposing the bell rang in the
middle? It might be somebody important--about their mourning. Would they
get up reverently and go out, or would they have to wait...in torture?
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