| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Intentions by Oscar Wilde: told me that she had felt an absolutely irresistible impulse to
follow the heroine step by step in her strange and fatal progress,
and that it was with a feeling of real terror that she had looked
forward to the last few chapters of the story. When they appeared,
it seemed to her that she was compelled to reproduce them in life,
and she did so. It was a most clear example of this imitative
instinct of which I was speaking, and an extremely tragic one.
However, I do not wish to dwell any further upon individual
instances. Personal experience is a most vicious and limited
circle. All that I desire to point out is the general principle
that Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life, and I feel
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane: he ses. There, Flemin', what d' yeh think 'a
that? 'Who was th' lad what carried th' flag?'
he ses, an' th' lieutenant, he speaks up right
away: 'That's Flemin', an' he's a jimhickey,' he
ses, right away. What? I say he did. 'A jim-
hickey,' he ses--those 'r his words. He did, too.
I say he did. If you kin tell this story better
than I kin, go ahead an' tell it. Well, then, keep
yer mouth shet. Th' lieutenant, he ses: 'He's a
jimhickey,' an' th' colonel, he ses: 'Ahem! ahem!
he is, indeed, a very good man t' have, ahem! He
The Red Badge of Courage |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Falk by Joseph Conrad: floor.
"We don't know all the circumstances," I ven-
tured to break the silence. He retorted tartly that
he didn't want to know of any. According to his
ideas no circumstances could excuse a crime--and
certainly not such a crime. This was the opinion
generally received. The duty of a human being
was to starve. Falk therefore was a beast, an ani-
mal; base, low, vile, despicable, shameless, and de-
ceitful. He had been deceiving him since last year.
He was, however, inclined to think that Falk must
Falk |
