| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: light you are plunged without warning into utter darkness.
Then the moons come; the mysterious, magic moons of Mars,
hurtling like monster meteors low across the face of the planet.
The declining sun lighted brilliantly the eastern banks of
Korus, the crimson sward, the gorgeous forest. Beneath the
trees we saw feeding many herds of plant men. The adults
stood aloft upon their toes and their mighty tails, their talons
pruning every available leaf and twig. It was then that I
understood the careful trimming of the trees which had led
me to form the mistaken idea when first I opened my eyes upon
the grove that it was the playground of a civilized people.
The Gods of Mars |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Some Reminiscences by Joseph Conrad: first introduction to English imaginative literature was
"Nicholas Nickleby." It is extraordinary how well Mrs. Nickleby
could chatter disconnectedly in Polish and the sinister Ralph
rage in that language. As to the Crummles family and the family
of the learned Squeers it seemed as natural to them as their
native speech. It was, I have no doubt, an excellent
translation. This must have been in the year '70. But I really
believe that I am wrong. That book was not my first introduction
to English literature. My first acquaintance was (or were) the
"Two Gentlemen of Verona," and that in the very MS. of my
father's translation. It was during our exile in Russia, and it
Some Reminiscences |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Nana, Miller's Daughter, Captain Burle, Death of Olivier Becaille by Emile Zola: Vandeuvres told them laughingly that Fauchery was engaged in a
dispute at the foot of the stairs because the porter had refused to
allow Lucy Stewart's carriage to come in at the gate. They could
hear Lucy telling the porter he was a dirty blackguard in the
anteroom. But when the footman had opened the door she came forward
with her laughing grace of manner, announced her name herself, took
both Nana's hands in hers and told her that she had liked her from
the very first and considered her talent splendid. Nana, puffed up
by her novel role of hostess, thanked her and was veritably
confused. Nevertheless, from the moment of Fauchery's arrival she
appeared preoccupied, and directly she could get near him she asked
|
