| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Eve and David by Honore de Balzac: brilliant account. The chief stage heroine, however, obliged him to go
to Paris to find a cure for love among the resources of science, and
there he tried to curry favor with the Liberal party.
As for Lucien, the story of his return to Paris belongs to the Scenes
of Parisian life.
ADDENDUM
Note: Eve and David is the third part of a trilogy. Part one is
entitled Two Poets and part two is A Distinguished Provincial at
Paris. In other references parts one and three are usually combined
under the title Lost Illusions.
The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte: Linton Heathcliff now, was suffered to stay at the Grange till her
father's corpse had quitted it.
She told me that her anguish had at last spurred Linton to incur
the risk of liberating her. She heard the men I sent disputing at
the door, and she gathered the sense of Heathcliff's answer. It
drove her desperate. Linton who had been conveyed up to the little
parlour soon after I left, was terrified into fetching the key
before his father re-ascended. He had the cunning to unlock and
re-lock the door, without shutting it; and when he should have gone
to bed, he begged to sleep with Hareton, and his petition was
granted for once. Catherine stole out before break of day. She
Wuthering Heights |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie: Bauerstein.
We had a pleasant luncheon, and as we drove away Lawrence
suggested that we should return by Tadminster, which was barely a
mile out of our way, and pay a visit to Cynthia in her
dispensary. Mrs. Inglethorp replied that this was an excellent
idea, but as she had several letters to write she would drop us
there, and we could come back with Cynthia in the pony-trap.
We were detained under suspicion by the hospital porter, until
Cynthia appeared to vouch for us, looking very cool and sweet in
her long white overall. She took us up to her sanctum, and
introduced us to her fellow dispenser, a rather awe-inspiring
The Mysterious Affair at Styles |
The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from Marie by H. Rider Haggard: one, should he be forced to see you killed before his eyes, that some
stranger might use your body to show his skill with a magic weapon by
slaying the wild things that would eat it."
Now, almost with tears, I broke in, explaining to the venerable man as
well as I could that their horrible fate had nothing to do with me. I
told him that I was innocent of their blood, who was forced to be there
to try to shoot vultures on the wing in order to save my white
companions from a doom similar to their own. He listened attentively,
asking a question now and again, and when he had mastered my meaning,
said with a most dignified calmness:
"Now I understand, White Man, and am glad to learn that you are not
Marie |
