I shudder to think of my
method and equipment; I skipped the dull parts, I left all tiresome
documents unread. It was a sad farrago of enthusiasm and levity and
heady writing. But Jove's thunder rolled and the bolt fell. A just
man, whom I have never quite forgiven, to tell the truth, told me
with unnecessary rigour and acrimony that I had made a pitiable
exhibition of myself. But I have thanked God ever since, for I
turned to literature pure and simple.
Then, too, it is the same with art-criticism; here the amateur
again, who, poor fool, is on the look-out for what is beautiful, is
told that he must not meddle with art unless he does it seriously,
which means that he must devote himself mainly to the study of
inferior masterpieces, and schools, and tendencies. In literature
it is the same; he must not devote himself to reading and loving
great books, he must disentangle influences; he must discern the
historical importance of writers, worthless in themselves, who form
important links. In theology and in philosophy it is much the same:
he must not read the Bible and say what he feels about it; he must
unravel Rabbinical and Talmudic tendencies; he must acquaint
himself with the heretical leanings of a certain era, and the
shadow cast upon the page by apocryphal tradition.
Pages:
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135