OCR Text |
Show With the Essayists. Of all the displays of art the essaj is the most Indefinable, the most sub tie, because It has no scheme, no program. pro-gram. It does not set out to narrate or tt prove; it has no dramatic purpose, nc imaginative theme; Its essence Is a sympathetic self-revelation, just as In talk a man may speak frankly of his own experiences and feelings, and yet avoid any suspicion of egotism, if bis confidences are designed to illustrate the thoughts of others rather than U provide a contrast and a self-glorification. The essayist gives rather than claims; he compares rather than pa rades. lie is led by his Interest ii others to be interested in himself, and it is as a man rather than as an Individual Indi-vidual that he takes the stage. He must be surprised at the dlscov erles he makes about himself, rath.r than complacent, he must condon" hit own discrepancies lather than exuli in thorn. |