Ah--hum--what the deuce shall I make him say? It must not be
too much like what a dying man would say, because the British public
is dead against realism. It must not either show any strong contempt
for religion; a little mild contempt, of course, goes down and is
fashionable, but I must not express it forcibly. He must not either
evince a disbelief in immortality--at least that's dangerous ground.
Some publishers will accept it and some won't.--Better leave it out.
Ah--hum--what shall Tomkins say? I have it! A retrospect of his past
life! And yet--No, stay! that won't do. Something that sounds like
something that might possibly be immoral might turn up in it, and
that would be fatal--damn the MS. utterly. Well, look here, Tomkins
has got to die, and I've got to finish the book, so I must get
something down. 'Darling Mabel, this parting is terrible, but still
I feel we shall meet in another world.' Now, is that safe? Has a
similar phrase been put in heaps of novels before? Because the
British public won't have anything too new. It likes to head over
again what it has heard at least fifty thousand times before, and
then it knows it won't be shocked. Yes, that sentence will do. Now I
must put in a few more and then, thank goodness, the scene will be
done! Now," I said, springing up from the table, "do you call that
art? do you call it genius? Is a collection of bald phrases and
second-hand sentiments, hooked together like that, worth anything
when it's done?"
"My dear boy, don't excite yourself like that," my father answered
deliberately.
Pages:
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35