The Art Of Writing Large Print

Author : Robert Louis Stevenson
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 42 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (669 download)

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Download or read book Essays in the Art of Writing written by Robert Louis Stevenson and published by . This book was released on 2020-11-18 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The profession of letters has been lately debated in the public prints; and it has beendebated, to put the matter mildly, from a point of view that was calculated to surprise highminded men, and bring a general contempt on books and reading. Some time ago, inparticular, a lively, pleasant, popular writer devoted an essay, lively and pleasant likehimself, to a very encouraging view of the profession. We may be glad that his experienceis so cheering, and we may hope that all others, who deserve it, shall be as handsomelyrewarded; but I do not think we need be at all glad to have this question, so important tothe public and ourselves, debated solely on the ground of money. The salary in anybusiness under heaven is not the only, nor indeed the first, question. That you shouldcontinue to exist is a matter for your own consideration; but that your business should befirst honest, and second useful, are points in which honour and morality are concerned. Ifthe writer to whom I refer succeeds in persuading a number of young persons to adopt thisway of life with an eye set singly on the livelihood, we must expect them in their works tofollow profit only, and we must expect in consequence, if he will pardon me the epithets, aslovenly, base, untrue, and empty literature. Of that writer himself I am not speaking: he isdiligent, clean, and pleasing; we all owe him periods of entertainment, and he has achievedan amiable popularity which he has adequately deserved. But the truth is, he does not, ordid not when he first embraced it, regard his profession from this purely mercenaryside. He went into it, I shall venture to say, if not with any noble design, at least in theardour of a first love; and he enjoyed its practice long before he paused to calculate thewage. The other day an author was complimented on a piece of work, good in itself andexceptionally good for him, and replied, in terms unworthy of a commercial traveller thatas the book was not briskly selling he did not give a copper farthing for its merit. It mustnot be supposed that the person to whom this answer was addressed received it as aprofession of faith; he knew, on the other hand, that it was only a whiff of irritation; just aswe know, when a respectable writer talks of literature as a way of life, like shoemaking, butnot so useful, that he is only debating one aspect of a question, and is still clearly consciousof a dozen others more important in themselves and more central to the matter inhand. But while those who treat literature in this penny-wise and virtue-foolish spirit arethemselves truly in possession of a better light, it does not follow that the treatment isdecent or improving, whether for themselves or others.