"
This is one of the numerous exhibitions of that over-sensitiveness to
criticism which caused him such long and continued suffering. His mind
was like a bared nerve, quivering with delight or contracting with
violent pain. Utterly devoid, as he was, of self-criticism, he regarded
his authorship as something miraculous, and held God (who apparently
supervised each chapter) responsible for the fate of his books. "If the
Lord," he writes in solemn earnest to a friend, "will take as good care
of the remainder as he has of the first chapters, you will like it."[20]
There was to him no difference between his best and his worst. It was
all part of himself, and he could scarcely conceive of any motive for
finding fault with it, except personal malice, envy, animosity.[21] This
did not, however, always prevent him from associating with the
malevolent critic, as for instance in the case of Hertz, with whom he
presently established pleasant relations.
[20] P. Hansen: Illustreret Dansk Litteratur Historic, vol.
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