The Nigger of the "Narcissus": A Tale of the Sea. E-book. Formato PDF - 9780243811595

Confronted by the same enigmatical spectacle f the artist descends within himself, and in that lonely region of stress and strife, if he be deserving and fortunate, he finds the terms of his appeal. His appeal is made to our less obvious capacities to that part of our nature which, because of the warlike conditions of existence, is necessarily kept out of sight within the more resisting and hard qualities — like the vulnerable body within a steel armour. His appeal is less loud, more profound, less distinct, more stirring -and sooner forgotten. Yet its effect endures for ever. J The changing wisdom of successive genera t1ons discards ideas, questions facts, demolishes theories. But the artist appeals to that part of our being which is not dependent on wisdom, to that in us which is a gift and not an acquisition — and, therefore, more permanently endurin (he speaks to our capacity for delight and wonderito the sense of mystery surrounding our lives; to our sense of pity, and beauty, and pain to the latent feeling of fellow ship with all creation and to the subtle but invincible conviction of solidarity that k'nits together the lone liness of innumerable hearts: to that solidarity in dreams, in joy, in sorrow, in aspirations, in illusions, in hope, in fear, which binds men to each other, which binds together all humanity — the dead to the living, and the living to the unborn.