| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Louis Lambert by Honore de Balzac: been able to preserve from oblivion.
I
Everything here on earth is produced by an ethereal substance
which is the common element of various phenomena, known
inaccurately as electricity, heat, light, the galvanic fluid, the
magnetic fluid, and so forth. The universal distribution of this
substance, under various forms, constitutes what is commonly known
as Matter.
II
The brain is the alembic to which the Animal conveys what each of
its organizations, in proportion to the strength of that vessel,
Louis Lambert |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Turn of the Screw by Henry James: as slightly grim. She was young, untried, nervous: it was a vision
of serious duties and little company, of really great loneliness.
She hesitated--took a couple of days to consult and consider.
But the salary offered much exceeded her modest measure,
and on a second interview she faced the music, she engaged."
And Douglas, with this, made a pause that, for the benefit
of the company, moved me to throw in--
"The moral of which was of course the seduction exercised by the splendid
young man. She succumbed to it."
He got up and, as he had done the night before, went to the fire,
gave a stir to a log with his foot, then stood a moment with his back to us.
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Vailima Letters by Robert Louis Stevenson: in style. By saying 'a cue from an old melodrama' after the
B. I., you can get rid of my note. If this is in time, it
will be splendid, and will make quite a volume.
Should you and Cassells prefer, you can call the whole volume
I. N. E. - though the BEACH OF FALESA is the child of a quite
different inspiration. They all have a queer realism, even
the most extravagant, even the ISLE OF VOICES; the manners
are exact.
Should they come too late, have them type-written, and return
to me here the type-written copies.
SUNDAY, DEC. 4TH.
|
The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass: letting loose a boat from where it is made fast, thirty-nine
lashes for the first offense; and for the second, shall have cut
off from his head one ear; for keeping or carrying a club,
thirty-nine lashes; for having any article for sale, without a
ticket from his master, ten lashes; for traveling in any other
than the most usual and accustomed road, when going alone to any
place, forty lashes; for traveling in the night without a pass,
forty lashes." I am afraid you do not understand the awful
character of these lashes. You must bring it before your mind.
A human being in a perfect state of nudity, tied hand and foot to
a stake, and a strong man standing behind with a heavy whip,
My Bondage and My Freedom |
