| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence: by-products and the chemical possibilities of coal, it was astounding
the ingenuity and the almost uncanny cleverness of the modern technical
mind, as if really the devil himself had lent fiend's wits to the
technical scientists of industry. It was far more interesting than art,
than literature, poor emotional half-witted stuff, was this technical
science of industry. In this field, men were like gods, or demons,
inspired to discoveries, and fighting to carry them out. In this
activity, men were beyond atty mental age calculable. But Clifford knew
that when it did come to the emotional and human life, these self-made
men were of a mental age of about thirteen, feeble boys. The
discrepancy was enormous and appalling.
Lady Chatterley's Lover |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Another Study of Woman by Honore de Balzac: Italiens. You can there watch at your leisure the studied
deliberateness of her movements. The enchanting deceiver plays off all
the little political artifices of her sex so naturally as to exclude
all idea of art or premeditation. If she has a royally beautiful hand,
the most perspicacious beholder will believe that it is absolutely
necessary that she should twist, or refix, or push aside the ringlet
or curl she plays with. If she has some dignity of profile, you will
be persuaded that she is giving irony or grace to what she says to her
neighbor, sitting in such a position as to produce the magical effect
of the 'lost profile,' so dear to great painters, by which the cheek
catches the high light, the nose is shown in clear outline, the
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Wife, et al by Anton Chekhov: I look with strained attention into the face of this flabby,
spiritless, clumsy old woman, seeking in her my Varya, but of her
past self nothing is left but her anxiety over my health and her
manner of calling my salary "our salary," and my cap "our cap."
It is painful for me to look at her, and, to give her what little
comfort I can, I let her say what she likes, and say nothing even
when she passes unjust criticisms on other people or pitches into
me for not having a private practice or not publishing
text-books.
Our conversation always ends in the same way. My wife suddenly
remembers with dismay that I have not had my tea.
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