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I
THE MAKING OF ASPER
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tinued to write verse of lofty social significance; his 'wholesome'
poetry satisfied a broad sector of society, and his fame increased.
I began to translate him into all possible languages and I can
assure you I attained a reputation as a pretty fair translator.
Teklin recently died of yellow fever in Palestro. Even after
he got rich, the poet managed without servants, was a vegetarian
and enjoyed physical work."
"You're joking," I shouted, "But it's unthinkable!"
"And, pray, why?" Gakker was sincerely amazed. "Can't I
compose bad verse?" He fell silent.
"Yes, Teklin was a fine work of art," said Gakker, rousing
himself from his thoughts. "I took great pains with him. But
now I come to the one who, to me, is the most interesting of all–
Asper. I shall not go too closely into the question of technique.
In this example you will see the artist at work on his first draft.
Asper is the idealized robber type-the romantic, the
scourge of merchants, a friend of the poor and an object of the
platonic love of women who seek heroism wherever bullets fly.
Strange as it seems, society, while waging a bitter fight against
crime, nevertheless crowns thieves with a peculiar kind of halo,
offering with one hand what it takes away with the other. After
sleep, hunger and love, man's greatest need is perhaps for the
unusual, and writers of all nations and peoples have immortal–
ized the pursuits of robbers in their works: Cartouche,2 Morgan,
Rocambole,
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Fra Diavolo, Stenka Razin. However much they
stink of blood, the man in the crowd is drawn relentlessly towards
them as a puppy yelping in fright is drawn to the slowly swaying
head of a boa constrictor. It's a tonic for the nerves, so I created
the legendary Asper. Roving through the slums where men's
2. Cartouche, 1693-1721, otherwise known as Louis-Dominique Bourguig–
non, was the leader of a band of robbers. He was broken on the wheel.
3. Rocambole, the adventurer who was the hero of a series of novels by
Ponson du Terrail, 1829-1871, called
Les Exploits de Rocambole.
