When Flaubert wrote Madame
Bovary, I believe he thought chiefly of a somewhat morbid realism;
and behold! the book turned in his hands into a masterpiece of
appalling morality. But the truth is, when books are conceived
under a great stress, with a soul of ninefold power, nine times
heated and electrified by effort, the conditions of our being are
seized with such an ample grasp, that, even should the main design
be trivial or base, some truth and beauty cannot fail to be
expressed. Out of the strong comes forth sweetness; but an ill
thing poorly done is an ill thing top and bottom. And so this can
be no encouragement to knock-kneed, feeble-wristed scribes, who
must take their business conscientiously or be ashamed to practise
it.
Man is imperfect; yet, in his literature, he must express himself
and his own views and preferences; for to do anything else is to do
a far more perilous thing than to risk being immoral: it is to be
sure of being untrue. To ape a sentiment, even a good one, is to
travesty a sentiment; that will not be helpful. To conceal a
sentiment, if you are sure you hold it, is to take a liberty with
truth. There is probably no point of view possible to a sane man
but contains some truth and, in the true connection, might be
profitable to the race.
Pages:
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52