THE EGOTISM OF AUTHORS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1533, 31 August 1912, Page 9

THE EGOTISM OF AUTHORS.

Jtacaulay in his esiay on Lord Byron declared that ho "never could clearly understand liow it is that egotism, so unpopular in conversation, should be so popular in writing." lint in such i'intfcrs ii good deal depends upon the deflnitiou of egotism. Montaigne, for example, is always talking about himself, anil we ,'!ijoy it; should we have enjoyed it le--it'- wo could have met him at ti-.ble and heard the same matter pour from him? Rousseau was one of the great egotists it'-'literature. He did tho sort rf thing ivhicU C'arlyle asserted to be always acceptable to the public, "going olf in self:onflagratioii for the amusement of the 'Kirisli." It may be doubted, however, if his confessions by word of mouth .vould have seemed a bore. There is, of course, a kind of personal vanity which s offensive whether met with in conversation or in a book. It has been sv id of Jhorles Sumner that his egotism, in his atcr years, was so insufferable as lo be m affront to every person he i let. Vet if v man is an interesting character and his 'xpei-ience, of life has been varied and nitertaihing, the unlocking t;f his heart, vhether in sonnet or in speech would •eem to be all one. Everything hangs ipoii the manner. A particular form of tho egotism of au:hor_s lias to do with their feeling about :lteir own works, Recently in England :here -has been a great deal -of gossip ionccrning Thomas Hardy, and tho alegeil pains lie was expending upon the sareful placing of ins original manu. icrips where posterity might at them, tnd upon a scrupulous editing of his lovels so tliafc they might reach the next ;entury in tho polished form that he vould'prefer. But this appears to liavo jeen largely unfounded. The positive anlouncement that Mr. Hardy was shortly to jroduce.a drama lias been declared by the 'Athenaeum" to ho "wholly. fictitious." \nd lw himself, when interrogated about he story that ho was uusyiiig- himself 11 filing a. new edition of his Wessex :ales, said that lie was no longer' interest:d in them to take any trouble about heir reprinting. Hardy is seemingly of die-mind of Anatole France, who n-.aVfs i sculptor soy, in '7.0 Lvs Kouge": "Do rou imagine that'it would bo a pleasure :o me to live among my own works? I snow them far too Well; they bore u e.'" It would be easy to cite instances of lie opposite temperament. 'Lliere are nany stories of Wordsworth's ur.f.ffccted ieiight in re-reading his own. poems. Tennyson had a weakness for icciting 'Maud." As to tho particular point of in author's anxiety about Hie jiecise iterary form in which his v.orks shall reach future generations, it seems to bo x caso of many men and many minds. The slow producers, the men. of the 'abor?d lino and the carefully-sought pliTase, ike Flaubert, naturally are fastidious to :ho last, degree in seeing to it that pos:eritv shall get their final version. This is 'w'ith some the last infirmity of noble : ininds. Copious writers are ;ipt to be less careful. Tho sublime iuditfer:nce of Shakespeare to what became of lus plays has lately been dwelt upon igain by M. Jusserand as one of tho ivojulcrs in connection with that wonderworker. On the other band, wo have Henry James, both prolific and an artist ill-.words, who assiduously, looked a revised re-issue of his bocks. : In that idition ho did a good deal of wli.it,_ in jiio of his short stories, he called "pricking in lights" in an author's proof, but H'liat tho ungodly would des'cri bo as one nore illustration of the method of "obcurum per obscurius." It'.is not only the readers among poserity, if ho is lucky enough to have ny/tliat an author's course in this mater may affect, but the collectors. .If here are to be 110 variants, no revisions, vhat becomes of the joy cf owning that are first edition with the misprints in t, or the youthful indiscretions which lie writer would have fain recalled or 'xpiingtd later? John Hay.would not reirint "Littlo Breechei,'' ;vet:h.n I cotird;'Jiot scape it duriiig nll liis life-time. '.It pursued him "to England, when he went here 'as Ambassador, and the lino about 'loafing round the throne" it was thought i capital joko to cito about him. • In iiicli a case wo see. the .egotism of the iiithor in reverse, as it were, and taking in the guise of mortification. lii the common opinion, one of the nost 'frequent manifestations ..of. literary ranity consists i.ll a Writer's concern ibout the public reception of his book, its critical reviews, its sales, what people say about it, how the publisher is satisfied, and so on. But this, when it exists —and, -no doubt, it often does —is modified by circumstances which the out-sider--is not/ always in a position to appreciate. There is, for instance, tho lapse of time which must : 001110 between the completion of the.-manuscript,-.or even the reading of'tho proof, anil the. actual publication of the book, . During that period tho author's "• interest'- may ■ liavo parsed entirely ..to.another theme. "When one book is published lie'may bo halfway through tho writing of another. Imagine tho uncertainty which would arise' in the mind of Arnold Bennett if anybody congratulated him on his latest novel! It might be tho third or fourth back of his really latest. And we presunio that ho and most other successful writers are more' indifferent to felicitations by friends, and praiso or blamo by critics, than most of us non-bookmaking folk suspect. If an author lias done a really fine tiling, • lie doos not need outside Voices to tell him so. As 11. Bergscn has explained, it is only when wo are doubtful about our success that wo look eagerly about for recognition and encouragement. And if self-assuranco of the writer as respects his own work is a form of egotism, it may at least be of tho silent and inoffensive kind. After Carlyle had finished his "French Kevolution," ho muttered to himself as 110 passed tho crowds in the park. "There isn't one of you that could have done it." But ho left it for Fronde to reveal that scornful vanity to us after, his death.—NewYork "Nation." -