PARTISAN REVIEW
succumb to History's most malign and subtle trick, which is to
fix
and fascinate the mind of men with the pride of their foreknowledge
of doom. There are times when, as the method of Perseus with the
Medusa suggests, you do well not to look straight at what you are
dealing with. Which is to say, with reference to the mirror-shield the
hero used, "Art fosters Fortune." But the shrug which is implied by
the other half of the sentence is no less courageous. It does not suggest
that we compare our position with what appears to be the more
favored situation of the past, or keep in mind how History has robbed
the novelist of a great role. What a demand upon the guarantees of
History this implies! What an overvaluation of security, and of
success and the career, and of art, and of life itself, which must al–
ways be a little undervalued if it is to be lived. Rather should the
phrase suggest both the fortuitous and the gratuitous nature of art,
how it exists beyond the reach of the will alone, how it is freely
given and not always for good reason, and for as little reason taken
away. It is not to be demanded, or prescribed or provided for. The
understanding of this cannot of itself assure the existence of the novel
but it helps toward establishing the state of the soul in which the
novel becomes possible.
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