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The tide of public opmlOn, which is still so indeterminate in
country, turned back.... But a shadow fell over my name. I do
deceive myself; I know that that shadow will not disappear. But
did not others- people before whom 1 feel so deeply my own
nificance-utter the great words:
Perissent nos noms, pourvu
que
chose publique soit sauvee
...
i.e. may our names perish so long
the general cause is saved! Following them, 1 too can console
with the thought that my book has been of some benefit. This
compensates me for the unpleasantness of undeserved
And, indeed, what does it matter? Who twenty or thirty years
will remember all these storms in a teacup? Or my name-with
without a shadow over it.
But enough about myself and, besides it
is
time to finish
fragmentary reminiscences which, 1 am afraid, will hardly
the reader. 1 just want to say a few parting words to my young
temporaries, my colleagues who enter upon the slippery career
literature. 1 have already said once and 1 am ready to repeat that
am not blinded about my position. My twenty-five-year-old
to the muses" has drawn to a close amid the growing coldness of
public, and 1 cannot think of any reason why it should grow
once more. New times have come and new men are needed;
veterans, like the military ones, are almost always invalids, and
are those who know how to retire at the right time! ...
And so, my dear colleagues, it is to you that 1 am
<1U1.l""~
myself.
Greif nUT hindein ins volle M enschenleben-
1 would like to say to you, quoting Goethe-
Ein jeder lebt's-nicht vielen ist's bekannt.
Und
wo ihr's jackt- da ist's interessant!
(i.e. "put your hand right in [1 am afraid 1 can't translate it
better], into the very depth of human life! Everyone lives by it,
few know it, and wherever you grasp it, there it is interesting!")
is only talent that gives one the power for this "grasping," this
ing hold" of life, and one cannot acquire talent; but talent alone
not enough. What one needs is the constant communion with the
vironment one undertakes to reproduce; what one needs is
