Books and Persons; Being Comments on a Past Epoch, 1908-1911Bennett, Arnold
History
Books and Persons; Being Comments on a Past Epoch, 1908-1911
Bennett, Arnold
Literature, Modern -- History and criticism
Patternes, and this incontrovertible statement implies inevitably that Mr.
Galsworthy is a writer of the highest rank. I re-read "A Man of Property"
immediately after re-reading Dostoievsky's "Crime and Punishment," and
immediately before re-reading Bjoernson's "Arne." It ranks well with these
European masterpieces.
SUPPRESSIONS IN "DE PROFUNDIS"
[_21 July '10_]
Some time ago I pointed out (what was to me a new discovery) that certain
passages in the German translation of Oscar Wilde's "De Profundis" did not
exist in the original English version as printed; and I suggested that Mr.
Robert Ross, Oscar Wilde's faithful literary executor, should explain. He
has been good enough to do so. He informs me that the passages in question
were restored in the edition of "De Profundis" (the thirteenth) in Wilde's
Complete Works, issued by Messrs. Methuen to a limited public, and that
they have been retained in the fourteenth (separate) edition, of which Mr.
Ross sends me a copy. I possessed only the first edition. I do not want to
part with it, but the fourteenth is a great deal more interesting than the
first. It contains a dedicatory letter by Mr. Ross to Dr. Max Meyerfeld
("But for you I do not think the book would ever have been published"),
and some highly interesting letters written in Reading Gaol by Wilde to
Mr. Ross (which had previously been published in Germany). In the course
of this dedicatory letter, Mr. Ross says: "In sending copy to Messrs.
Methuen (to whom alone I submitted it) I anticipated refusal, as though
the work were my own. A very distinguished man of letters who acted as
their reader advised, however, its acceptance, and urged, in view of the
uncertainty of its reception, the excision of certain passages, to which I
readily assented."
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account