It is the challenging that
engrosses him, and enchants him, and raises up the magic of his wonder.
It is as futile, in the end, as Hamlet's or Faust's--but still a gallant
and a gorgeous adventure, a game uproariously worth the playing, an
enterprise "inscrutable ... and excessively romantic."...
If you want to get his measure, read "Youth" or "Falk" or "Heart of
Darkness," and then try to read the best of Kipling. I think you will
come to some understanding, by that simple experiment, of the difference
between an adroit artisan's bag of tricks and the lofty sincerity and
passion of a first-rate artist.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Joseph Conrad: A short study of his intellectual and emotional
attitude toward his work and of the chief characteristics of his novels,
by Wilson Follett; New York, Doubleday, Page & Co. (1915).
[2] The Advance of the English Novel. New York, Dodd, Mead & Co., 1916,
p. 215.
[3] Conrad, in the _Forum_, May, 1915.
[4] New York and London. G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1907.
[5] The Intelligence of Woman. Boston, Little, Brown & Co.
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