| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Ferragus by Honore de Balzac: with whom I'm as good as married, morally, and who did talk of making
it right by marrying me before the municipality. There's plenty of
handsome young men in the world--ain't there, monsieur?--to take your
fancy, without going after a man of middle age, who makes my
happiness. Yah! I haven't got a fine hotel like this, but I've got my
love, I have. I hate handsome men and money; I'm all heart, and--"
Madame Jules turned to her husband.
"You will allow me, monsieur, to hear no more of all this," she said,
retreating to her bedroom.
"If the lady lives with you, I've made a mess of it; but I can't help
that," resumed Ida. "Why does she come after Monsieur Ferragus every
Ferragus |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: to whom he issues a command.
It must have been plain to the Father of Therns, as it was to me,
that the recent disclosures of his true character had done much
already to weaken the faith of Kulan Tith, and that it would require
but little more to turn the powerful jeddak into an avowed enemy;
but so strong are the seeds of superstition that even the great
Kaolian still hesitated to cut the final strand that bound him
to his ancient religion.
Matai Shang was wise enough to seem to accept the mandate of
The Warlord of Mars |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Last War: A World Set Free by H. G. Wells: twenty years or so. I suppose a desire not to shock the sceptical
reader's sense of use and wont and perhaps a less creditable
disposition to hedge, have something to do with this dating
forward of one's main events, but in the particular case of The
World Set Free there was, I think, another motive in holding the
Great War back, and that was to allow the chemist to get well
forward with his discovery of the release of atomic energy.
1956--or for that matter 2056--may be none too late for that
crowning revolution in human potentialities. And apart from this
procrastination of over forty years, the guess at the opening
phase of the war was fairly lucky; the forecast of an alliance of
The Last War: A World Set Free |
