TARR
BY
P.
WYNDHAM
LEWIS
LONDON
THE
EGOIST
LTD.
23
ADELPHI
TERRACE
HOUSE
,
W.C.
1918
PRINTED
AT
THE
COMPLETE
PRESS
WEST
NORWOOD
,
S.E.
L’ouvrage
eust
été
moins
mien
:
et
sa
fin
principale
et
perfection
,
c’est
d’estre
exactement
mien
.
Je
corrigerois
bien
une
erreur
accidentelle
,
dequoy
je
suis
plain
,
ainsi
que
je
cours
inadvertemment
;
mais
les
imperfections
qui
sont
en
moy
ordinaires
et
constantes
,
ce
seroit
trahison
de
les
oster
.
Quand
on
m’a
dit
ou
que
moy-mesme
me
suis
dict
:
“
Tu
es
trop
espais
en
figures
:
Voila
un
mot
du
cru
de
Gascoingne
:
Voila
une
frase
dangereuse
(
je
n’en
refuis
aucune
de
celles
qui
s’usent
emmy
les
rues
françoises
;
ceux
qui
veulent
combattre
1’usage
par
la
grammaire
se
mocquent
)
:
Voilà
un
discours
ignorant
:
Voilà
un
discours
paradoxe
:
En
voilà
un
trop
fol.
[
Tu
te
joues
souvent
,
on
estimera
que
tu
dies
à
droit
ce
que
tu
dis
à
feinte
.
]
—
Ouy
,
fais-je
,
mais
je
corrige
les
fautes
d’inadvertence
non
celles
de
coustume
.
Est-ce
pas
ainsi
que
je
parle
par
tout
?
Me
represente-je
pas
vivement
?
suffit
.
”
Montaigne
,
Liv
.
Ill
,
oh
.
v.
Le
plus
simplement
se
commettre
à
nature
,
c’est
s’y
commettre
le
plus
sagement
.
O
que
c’est
un
doux
et
mol
chevet
,
et
sain
,
que
l’ignorance
et
l’incuriosité
,
à
reposer
une
teste
bien
faicte
!
”
Montaigne
,
Liv
.
II
,
ch.
xiii
,
“
De
l’expérience
.
”
PROLOGUE
This
book
was
begun
eight
years
ago
;
so
I
have
not
produced
this
disagreeable
German
for
the
gratification
of
primitive
partisanship
aroused
by
the
war
.
On
the
other
hand
,
having
had
him
up
my
sleeve
for
so
long
,
I
let
him
out
at
this
moment
in
the
undisguised
belief
that
he
is
very
apposite
.
I
am
incidentally
glad
to
get
rid
of
him
.
He
has
been
on
my
conscience
(
my
conscience
as
an
artist
,
it
is
true
)
for
a
long
time
.
The
myriads
of
Prussian
germs
,
gases
,
and
gangrenes
released
into
the
air
and
for
the
past
year
obsessing
everything
,
revived
my
quiescent
creation
.
I
was
moved
to
vomit
Kreisler
forth
.
It
is
one
big
germ
more
.
May
the
flames
of
Louvain
help
to
illuminate
(
and
illustrate
)
my
hapless
protagonist
!
His
misdemeanours
too
,
which
might
appear
too
harshly
real
at
ordinaiy
times
,
have
,
just
now
,
too
obvious
confirmations
to
be
questioned
.
Germany’s
large
leaden
brain
booms
away
in
the
centre
of
Europe
.
Her
brain-waves
and
titanic
orchestrations
have
broken
round
us
for
too
long
not
to
have
had
their
effect
.
As
we
never
think
ourselves
,
except
a
stray
Irishman
or
American
,
we
should
long
ago
have
been
swamped
had
it
not
been
for
the
sea
.
The
habits
and
vitality
of
the
seaman’s
life
and
this
vigorous
element
have
protected
us
intellectually
as
the
blue
water
has
politically
.
In
Europe
Nietzsche’s
gospel
of
desperation
,
the
beyond-law-man
,
etc.
,
has
deeply
influenced
the
Paris
apache
,
the
Italian
Futurist
littérateur
,
the
Russian
revolutionary
.
Nietzsche’s
books
are
full
of
seductions
and
sugar-plums
.
They
have
made
“
aristocrats
”
of
people
who
would
otherwise
have
been
only
mild
snobs
or
meddlesome
prigs
;
as
much
as
,
if
not
more
than
,
other
writings
,
they
have
made
“
expropriators
”
of
what
would
otherwise
merely
have
been
Arsène
Lupins
:
and
they
have
made
an
Over-man
of
every
vulgarly
energetic
grocer
in
Europe
.
The
commercial
and
military
success
of
Prussia
has
deeply
influenced
the
French
,
as
it
is
gradually
winning
the
imagination
of
the
English
.
The
fascination
of
material
power
is
,
for
the
irreligious
modern
man
,
almost
impossible
to
resist
.
There
is
much
to
be
said
for
this
eruption
of
greedy
,
fleshy
,
frantic
strength
in
the
midst
of
discouraged
delicacies
.
Germany
has
its
mission
and
its
beauty
.
We
will
hope
that
the
English
may
benefit
by
this
power
and
passion
,
without
being
unnecessarily
grateful
for
a
gift
that
has
been
bought
with
best
English
blood
,
and
which
is
not
as
important
or
unique
as
the
great
English
gift
bestowed
centuries
ago
.
As
to
the
Prophet
of
War
,
the
tone
of
Nietzsche’s
books
should
have
discredited
his
philosophy
.
The
modern
Prussian
advocate
of
the
Aristocratic
and
Tyrannic
took
everybody
into
his
confidence
.
Then
he
would
coquet
:
he
gave
special
prizes
.
Everybody
couldn’t
be
a
follower
of
his
!
No
:
only
the
minority
:
that
is
the
minority
who
read
his
books
,
which
has
steadily
grown
till
it
comprises
certainly
(
or
would
were
it
collected
together
)
the
ungainliest
and
strangest
aristocratic
caste
any
world
could
hope
to
see
!
Kreisler
in
this
book
is
a
German
and
nothing
else
.
Tarr
is
the
individual
in
the
book
,
and
is
at
the
same
time
one
of
the
showmen
of
the
author
.
His
private
life
,
however
,
I
am
in
no
way
responsible
for
.
The
long
drawn-out
struggle
in
which
we
find
this
young
man
engaged
is
illuminated
from
start
to
finish
by
the
hero
of
it
.
His
theory
,
put
in
another
way
,
is
that
an
artist
requires
more
energy
than
civilization
provides
,
or
than
the
civilized
mode
of
life
implies
:
more
naiveté
,
freshness
,
and
unconsciousness
.
So
Nature
agrees
to
force
his
sensibility
and
intelligence
,
on
the
one
hand
,
to
the
utmost
pitch
,
leaving
him
,
on
the
other
,
an
uncultivated
and
ungregarious
tract
where
he
can
run
wild
and
renew
his
forces
and
remain
unspoilt
.
Tarr
,
in
his
analysis
of
the
anomalies
of
taste
,
gives
the
key
to
a
crowd
of
other
variants
and
twists
to
which
most
of
the
misunderstandings
and
stupidities
in
the
deciphering
of
men
are
due
.
He
exaggerates
his
own
departure
from
perfect
sense
and
taste
into
an
unnnecessary
image
of
Shame
and
Disgust
,
before
which
he
publicly
castigates
himself
.
He
is
a
primitive
figure
,
coupled
with
a
modern
type
of
flabby
sophistication
:
that
is
Bertha
Lunkin
.
The
Munich
German
Madonna
stands
nude
,
too
,
in
the
market-place
,
with
a
pained
distortion
of
the
face
.
Tarr’s
message
,
as
a
character
in
a
book
,
is
this
.
Under
the
camouflage
of
a
monotonous
intrigue
he
points
a
permanent
opposition
,
of
life
outstripped
,
and
art
become
lonely
.
He
incidentally
is
intended
to
bring
some
comfort
of
analysis
amongst
less
sifted
and
more
ominous
perplexities
of
our
time
.
His
message
,
as
he
discourses
,
laughs
,
and
picks
his
way
through
the
heavily
obstructed
land
of
this
story
,
is
the
message
of
a
figure
of
health
.
His
introspection
is
not
melancholy
;
for
the
strange
and
,
as
with
his
pedagogic
wand
he
points
out
,
hideously
unsatisfactory
figures
that
are
given
ingress
to
his
innermost
apartments
become
assimilated
at
once
to
a
life
in
which
he
has
the
profoundest
confidence
.
He
exalts
Life
into
a
Comedy
,
when
otherwise
it
is
,
to
his
mind
,
a
tawdry
zone
of
half-art
,
or
a
silly
Tragedy
.
Art
is
the
only
thing
worth
the
tragic
impulse
,
for
him
;
and
,
as
he
says
,
it
is
his
drama
.
Should
art
,
that
is
some
finely-adjusted
creative
will
,
suddenly
become
the
drama
of
the
youth
infatuated
with
his
maiden
,
what
different
dispositions
would
have
to
be
made
;
what
contradictory
tremors
would
invade
his
amorous
frame
;
what
portions
of
that
frame
would
still
smoulder
amorously
?
These
questions
Tarr
disposes
of
to
his
satisfaction
.
So
much
by
way
of
warning
before
the
curtain
rises
.
Even
if
the
necessary
tragic
thrill
of
misgiving
is
caused
thereby
(
or
are
we
going
to
be
“
shocked
”
in
the
right
way
once
again
,
not
in
Shaw’s
“
bloody
,
”
schoolgirl
way
?
)
,
it
may
extenuate
the
at
times
seemingly
needless
nucleus
of
blood
and
tears
.
P.
Wyndham
Lewis
1915
PART
I
BERTHA
CHAPTER
I
Paris
hints
of
sacrifice
.
—
But
here
we
deal
with
that
large
dusty
facet
known
to
indulgent
and
congruous
kind
.
It
is
in
its
capacity
of
delicious
inn
and
majestic
Baedeker
,
where
western
Venuses
twang
its
responsive
streets
and
hush
to
soft
growl
before
its
statues
,
that
it
is
seen
.
It
is
not
across
its
Thébaide
that
the
unscrupulous
heroes
chase
each
other’s
shadows
.
They
are
largely
ignorant
of
all
but
their
restless
personal
lives
.
Inconceivably
generous
and
naive
faces
haunt
the
Knackfus
Quarter
.
—
We
are
not
,
however
,
in
a
Selim
or
Vitagraph
camp
(
though
“
guns
”
tap
rhythmically
the
buttocks
)
.
—
Art
is
being
studied
.
—
Art
is
the
smell
of
oil
paint
,
Henri
Murger’s
Vie
de
Bohème
,
corduroy
trousers
,
the
operatic
Italian
model
.
But
the
poetry
,
above
all
,
of
linseed
oil
and
turpentine
.
The
Knackfus
Quarter
is
given
up
to
Art
.
—
Letters
and
other
things
are
round
the
corner
.
—
Its
rent
is
half
paid
by
America
.
Germany
occupies
a
sensible
apartment
on
the
second
floor
.
A
hundred
square
yards
at
its
centre
is
a
convenient
space
,
where
the
Boulevard
du
Paradis
and
Boulevard
Pfeifer
cross
with
their
electric
trams
.
—
In
the
middle
is
a
pavement
island
,
like
vestige
of
submerged
masonry
.
—
Italian
models
festoon
it
in
symmetrical
human
groups
;
it
is
also
their
club
.
—
The
Café
Berne
,
at
one
side
,
is
the
club
of
the
“
Grands
messieurs
Du
Berne
.
”
So
you
have
the
clap-trap
and
amorphous
Campagnia
tribe
outside
,
in
the
café
twenty
sluggish
common-sense
Germans
,
a
Vitagraph
group
or
two
,
drinking
and
playing
billiards
.
These
are
the
most
permanent
tableaux
of
this
place
,
disheartening
and
admonitory
as
a
Tussaud’s
of
The
Flood
.
Hobson
and
Tarr
met
in
the
Boulevard
du
Paradis
.
—
They
met
in
a
gingerly
,
shuffling
fashion
.
They
had
so
many
good
reasons
for
not
slowing
down
when
they
met
:
crowds
of
little
antecedent
meetings
all
revivifying
like
the
bacilli
of
a
harmless
fever
at
the
sight
of
each
other
:
pointing
to
why
they
should
crush
their
hats
over
their
eyes
and
hurry
on
,
so
that
it
was
a
defeat
and
insanitary
to
have
their
bodies
shuffling
and
gesticulating
there
.
“
Why
cannot
most
people
,
having
talked
and
annoyed
each
other
once
or
twice
,
rebecome
strangers
simply
?
Oh
,
for
multitudes
of
divorces
in
our
moeurs
,
more
than
the
old
vexed
sex
ones
!
Ah
,
yes
:
ah
,
yes
—
!
”
had
not
Tarr
once
put
forward
,
and
Hobson
agreed
?
“
Have
you
been
back
long
?
”
Tarr
asked
with
despondent
slowness
.
“
No.
I
got
back
yesterday
,
”
said
Hobson
,
with
pleasantly
twisted
scowl
.
(
“
Heavens
:
One
day
here
only
,
and
lo
!
I
meet
him
.
”
)
“
How
is
London
looking
,
then
?
”
“
Very
much
as
usual
.
—
I
wasn’t
there
the
whole
time
.
—
I
was
in
Cambridge
last
week
.
”
(
“
I
wish
you’d
go
to
perdition
from
time
to
time
,
instead
of
Cambridge
,
as
it
always
is
,
you
grim
,
grim
dog
!
”
Tarr
wished
behind
the
veil
.
)
They
went
to
the
Berne
to
have
a
drink
.
They
sat
for
some
minutes
with
what
appeared
a
stately
discomfort
of
self-consciousness
,
staring
in
front
of
them
.
—
It
was
really
only
a
dreary
,
boiling
anger
with
themselves
,
with
the
contradictions
of
civilized
life
,
the
immense
and
intricate
camouflage
over
the
hatred
that
personal
diversities
engender
.
“
Phew
,
phew
!
”
A
tenuous
howl
,
like
a
subterranean
wind
,
rose
from
the
borderland
of
their
consciousness
.
They
were
there
on
the
point
of
opening
with
tired
,
ashamed
fingers
,
well-worn
pages
of
their
souls
,
soon
to
be
muttering
between
their
teeth
the
hackneyed
pages
to
each
other
:
resentful
in
different
degrees
and
disproportionate
ways
.
And
so
they
sat
with
this
absurd
travesty
of
a
Quaker’s
meeting
:
shyness
appearing
to
emanate
masterfully
from
Tarr
.
And
in
another
case
,
with
almost
any
one
but
Hobson
,
it
might
have
been
shyness
.
For
Tarr
had
a
gauche
,
Puritanical
ritual
of
self
,
the
result
of
solitary
habits
.
Certain
observances
were
demanded
of
those
approaching
,
and
quite
gratuitously
observed
in
return
.
The
fetish
within
—
soul-dweller
that
is
strikingly
like
wood-dweller
,
and
who
was
not
often
enough
disturbed
to
have
had
sylvan
shyness
mitigated
—
would
still
cling
to
these
forms
.
Sometimes
Tarr’s
cunning
idol
,
aghast
at
its
nakedness
,
would
manage
to
borrow
or
purloin
some
shape
of
covering
from
elegantly
draped
visitor
.
But
for
Hobson’s
outfit
he
had
the
greatest
contempt
.
This
was
Alan
Hobson’s
outfit
.
—
A
Cambridge
cut
disfigured
his
originally
manly
and
melodramatic
form
.
His
father
was
a
wealthy
merchant
somewhere
in
Egypt
.
He
was
very
athletic
,
and
his
dark
and
cavernous
features
had
been
constructed
by
Nature
as
a
lurking-place
for
villainies
and
passions
.
He
was
untrue
to
his
rascally
,
sinuous
body
.
He
slouched
and
ambled
along
,
neglecting
his
muscles
:
and
his
dastardly
face
attempted
to
portray
delicacies
of
common
sense
,
and
gossamer-like
backslidings
into
the
Inane
that
would
have
puzzled
a
bile-specialist
.
He
would
occasionally
exploit
his
blackguardly
appearance
and
blacksmith’s
muscles
for
a
short
time
,
however
.
And
his
strong
,
piercing
laugh
threw
A
B
C
waitresses
into
confusion
.
The
Art-touch
,
the
Bloomsbury
stain
,
was
very
observable
.
Hobson’s
Harris
tweeds
were
shabby
.
A
hat
suggesting
that
his
ancestors
had
been
Plainsmen
or
some
rough
sunny
folk
,
shaded
unnecessarily
his
countenance
,
already
far
from
open
.
The
material
for
conversation
afforded
by
a
short
sea
voyage
,
an
absence
,
a
panama
hat
on
his
companion’s
head
,
had
been
exhausted
.
—
Tarr
possessed
no
deft
hand
or
economy
of
force
.
His
muscles
rose
unnecessarily
on
his
arm
to
lift
a
wine-glass
to
his
lips
.
He
had
no
social
machinery
,
but
the
cumbrous
one
of
the
intellect
.
He
danced
about
with
this
,
it
is
true
.
But
it
was
full
of
sinister
piston-rods
,
organ-like
shapes
,
heavy
drills
.
—
When
he
tried
to
be
amiable
,
he
usually
only
succeeded
in
being
ominous
.
It
was
an
effort
to
talk
to
Hobson
.
For
this
effort
a
great
bulk
of
nervous
force
was
awoken
.
It
got
to
work
and
wove
its
large
anomalous
patterns
.
It
took
the
subject
that
was
foremost
in
his
existence
and
imposed
it
on
their
talk
.
Tarr
turned
to
Hobson
,
and
seized
him
,
conversationally
,
by
the
hair
.
“
Well
,
Walt
Whitman
,
when
are
you
going
to
get
your
hair
cut
?
”
“
Why
do
you
call
me
Walt
Whitman
?
”
“
Would
you
prefer
Buffalo
Bill
?
Or
is
it
Shakespeare
?
”
“
It
is
not
Shakespeare
—
—
”
“
‘
Roi
je
ne
suis
:
prince
je
ne
daigne.’
—
That’s
Hobson’s
choice
.
—
But
why
so
much
hair
?
I
don’t
wear
my
hair
long
.
If
you
had
as
many
reasons
for
wearing
it
long
as
I
have
,
we
should
see
it
flowing
round
your
ankles
”
“
I
might
ask
you
under
those
circumstances
why
you
wear
it
short
.
But
I
expect
you
have
good
reasons
for
that
,
too
.
I
can’t
see
why
you
should
resent
my
innocent
device
.
However
long
I
wore
it
I
should
not
damage
you
by
my
competition
—
—
”
Tarr
rattled
the
cement
match-stand
on
the
table
,
and
the
garçon
sang
“
Toute
suite
,
toute
suite
!
”
“
Hobson
,
you
were
telling
me
about
a
studio
to
let
before
you
left
.
—
I
forget
the
details
—
—
”
“
Was
it
one
behind
the
Panthéon
?
”
“
That’s
it
.
—
Was
there
electric
light
?
”
“
No
,
I
don’t
think
there
was
electric
light
.
But
I
can
find
out
for
you
.
”
“
How
did
you
come
to
hear
of
it
?
”
“
Through
a
German
I
know
—
Salle
,
Salla
,
or
something
.
”
“
What
was
the
street
?
”
“
The
Rue
Lhomond
.
I
forget
the
number
.
”
“
I’ll
go
and
have
a
look
at
it
after
lunch
.
—
What
on
earth
possesses
you
to
know
so
many
Germans
?
”
Tarr
asked
,
sighing
.
“
Don’t
you
like
Germans
?
—
You’ve
just
been
too
intimate
with
one
:
that’s
what
it
is
.
”
“
Perhaps
I
have
.
”
“
A
female
German
.
”
“
The
sex
weakens
the
‘
German
,
’
surely
.
”
“
Does
it
in
Fräulein
Lunken’s
case
?
”
“
Oh
,
you
know
her
,
do
you
?
—
Of
course
,
you
would
know
her
,
as
she’s
a
German
.
”
Alan
Hobson
cackled
morosely
,
like
a
very
sad
topdog
trying
to
imitate
a
rooster
.
Tarr’s
unwieldy
playfulness
,
might
in
the
chequered
northern
shade
,
in
conjunction
with
nut-brown
ale
,
gazed
at
by
some
Rowlandson
—
he
on
the
ultimate
borders
of
the
epoch
—
have
pleased
by
its
à
propos
.
But
when
the
last
Rowlandson
dies
,
the
life
,
too
,
that
he
saw
should
vanish
.
Anything
that
survives
the
artist’s
death
is
not
life
,
but
play-acting
.
This
homely
,
thick-waisted
affectation
!
—
Hobson
yawned
and
yawned
as
though
he
wished
to
swallow
Tarr
and
have
done
with
him
.
Tarr
yawned
more
noisily
,
rattled
his
chair
,
sat
up
,
haggard
and
stiff
,
as
though
he
wished
to
frighten
this
crow
away
.
“
CarrionCrow
”
was
Tarr’s
name
for
Hobson
:
“
The
olde
Crow
of
Cairo
,
”
rather
longer
.
Why
was
he
talking
to
this
man
?
However
,
he
shortly
began
to
lay
bare
the
secrets
of
his
soul
.
Hobson
opened
:
“
It
seems
to
me
,
Tarr
,
that
you
know
more
Germans
than
I
do
.
But
you
're
ashamed
of
it
.
Hence
your
attack
.
I
met
a
Fräulein
Fierspitz
the
other
day
,
a
German
,
who
claimed
to
know
you
.
I
am
always
meeting
Germans
who
know
you
.
She
also
referred
to
you
as
the
‘
official
fiancé
’
of
Fräulein
Lunken
.
—
Are
you
an
‘
official
fiancé
’
?
And
if
so
,
what
is
that
,
may
I
ask
?
”
Tarr
was
taken
aback
,
it
was
evident
.
Hobson
laughed
stridently
.
The
real
man
emerging
,
he
came
over
quickly
on
another
wave
.
“
You
not
only
get
to
know
Germans
,
crowds
of
them
,
on
the
sly
;
you
make
your
bosom
friend
of
them
,
engage
yourself
to
them
in
marriage
and
make
Heaven
knows
how
many
more
solemn
pacts
,
covenants
,
and
agreements
.
—
It’s
bound
all
to
come
out
some
day
.
What
will
you
do
then
?
”
Tarr
was
recovering
gracefully
from
his
relapse
into
discomfort
.
If
ever
taken
off
his
guard
,
he
made
a
clever
use
immediately
afterwards
of
his
naïveté
.
He
beamed
on
his
slip
.
He
would
swallow
it
tranquilly
,
assimilating
it
,
with
ostentation
,
to
himself
.
When
some
personal
weakness
slipped
out
he
would
pick
it
up
unabashed
,
look
at
it
smilingly
,
and
put
it
back
in
his
pocket
.
“
As
you
know
,
”
he
soon
replied
,
“
‘
engagement
’
is
an
euphemism
.
And
,
as
a
matter
of
fact
,
my
girl
publicly
announced
the
breaking
off
of
our
engagement
yesterday
.
”
He
looked
a
complete
child
,
head
thrown
up
as
though
proclaiming
something
he
had
reason
to
be
particularly
proud
of
.
—
Hobson
laughed
convulsively
,
cracking
his
yellow
fingers
.
“
Yes
,
it
is
funny
,
if
you
look
at
it
in
that
way
.
—
I
let
her
announce
our
engagement
or
the
reverse
just
as
she
likes
.
That
has
been
our
arrangement
from
the
start
.
I
never
know
at
any
given
time
whether
I
am
engaged
or
not
.
I
leave
all
that
sort
of
thing
entirely
in
her
hands
.
After
a
severe
quarrel
I
am
pretty
certain
that
I
am
temporarily
unattached
,
the
link
publicly
severed
somewhere
or
other
.
”
“
Possibly
that
is
what
is
meant
by
‘
official
fiancé’
?
”
“
Very
likely
.
”
He
had
been
hustled
—
through
his
vanity
,
the
Cairo
Cantabian
thought
—
somewhere
where
the
time
could
be
passed
.
He
did
not
hesitate
to
handle
Tarr’s
curiosities
.
—
It
is
a
graceful
compliment
to
offer
the
nectar
of
some
ulcer
to
your
neighbour
.
The
modern
man
understands
his
udders
and
taps
.
—
With
an
obscene
heroism
Tarr
displayed
his
.
His
companion
wrenched
at
it
with
malice
.
Tarr
pulled
a
wry
face
once
or
twice
at
the
other’s
sans
gêne
.
But
he
was
proud
of
what
he
could
stand
.
He
had
a
hazy
image
of
a
shrewd
old
countryman
in
contact
with
the
sharpness
of
the
town
.
He
would
not
shrink
.
He
would
roughly
outstrip
his
visitor
.
—
“
Ay
,
I
have
this
the
matter
with
me
—
a
funny
complaint
?
—
and
that
,
and
that
,
too
.
—
What
then
?
—
Do
you
want
me
to
race
you
to
that
hill
?
”
He
obtruded
complacently
all
he
had
most
to
be
ashamed
of
,
conscious
of
the
power
of
an
obsessing
weakness
.
“
Will
you
go
so
far
in
this
clandestine
life
of
yours
as
to
marry
anybody
?
”
Hobson
proceeded
.
“
No.
”
Hobson
stared
with
bright
meditative
sweetness
down
the
boulevard
.
“
I
think
there
must
be
a
great
difference
between
your
way
of
approaching
Germans
and
mine
,
”
he
said
.
“
Ay
:
it
is
different
things
that
takes
us
respectively
amongst
them
.
”
“
You
like
the
national
flavour
,
all
the
same
.
”
.
“
I
like
the
national
flavour
!
”
—
Tarr
had
a
way
of
beginning
a
reply
with
a
parrot-like
echo
of
the
words
of
the
other
party
to
the
dialogue
;
also
of
repeating
sotto
voce
one
of
his
own
sentences
,
a
mechanical
rattle
following
on
without
stop
.
“
Sex
is
nationalized
more
than
any
other
essential
of
life
.
In
this
it
is
just
the
opposite
to
art
.
—
There
is
much
pork
and
philosophy
in
German
sex
.
—
But
then
if
it
is
the
sex
you
are
after
,
it
does
not
say
you
want
to
identify
your
being
with
your
appetite
.
Quite
the
opposite
.
The
condition
of
continued
enjoyment
is
to
resist
assimilation
.
—
A
man
is
the
opposite
of
his
appetite
.
”
“
Surely
,
a
man
is
his
appetite
.
”
“
No
,
a
man
is
always
his
last
appetite
,
or
his
appetite
before
last
;
and
that
is
no
longer
an
appetite
.
—
But
nobody
is
anything
,
or
life
would
be
intolerable
,
the
human
race
collapse
.
—
You
are
me
,
I
am
you
.
—
The
Present
is
the
furthest
projection
of
our
steady
appetite
.
Imagination
,
like
a
general
,
keeps
behind
.
Imagination
is
the
man
.
”
“
What
is
the
Present
?
”
Hobson
asked
politely
,
with
much
aspirating
,
sitting
up
a
little
and
slightly
offering
his
ear
.
But
Tarr
only
repeated
things
arbitrarily
.
He
proceeded
:
“
Sex
is
a
monstrosity
.
It
is
the
arch
abortion
of
this
filthy
universe
.
—
How
‘
old-fashioned
!
’
—
eh
,
my
fashionable
friend
?
—
We
are
all
optimists
to-day
,
aren’t
we
?
God’s
in
his
Heaven
,
all’s
well
with
the
world
!
I
am
a
pessimist
,
Hobson
.
But
I’m
a
new
sort
of
pessimist
.
—
I
think
I
am
the
sort
that
will
please
!
—
I
am
the
Panurgic-Pessimist
,
drunken
with
the
laughing-gas
of
the
Abyss
.
I
gaze
on
squalor
and
idiocy
,
and
the
more
I
see
it
,
the
more
I
like
it
.
—
Flaubert
built
up
his
Bouvard
et
Pecuchet
with
maniacal
and
tireless
hands
.
It
took
him
ten
years
.
That
was
a
long
draught
of
stodgy
laughter
from
the
gases
that
rise
from
the
dung-heap
?
He
had
an
appetite
like
an
elephant
for
this
form
of
mirth
.
But
he
grumbled
and
sighed
over
his
food
.
—
I
take
it
in
my
arms
and
bury
my
face
in
it
!
”
As
Tarr’s
temperament
spread
its
wings
,
whirling
him
menacingly
and
mockingly
above
Hobson’s
head
,
the
Cantab
philosopher
did
not
think
it
necessary
to
reply
.
—
He
was
not
winged
himself
.
—
He
watched
Tarr
looping
the
loop
above
him
.
He
was
a
drole
bird
!
He
wondered
,
as
he
watched
him
,
if
he
was
a
sound
bird
,
or
homme-oiseau
.
People
believed
in
him
.
His
Exhibition
flights
attracted
attention
.
What
sort
of
prizes
could
he
expect
to
win
by
his
professional
talents
?
Would
this
notable
ambitieux
be
satisfied
?
The
childish
sport
proceeded
,
with
serious
intervals
.
“
I
bury
my
face
in
it
!
”
—
(
He
buried
his
face
in
it
!
!
)
—
“
I
laugh
hoarsely
through
its
thickness
,
choking
and
spitting
;
coughing
,
sneezing
,
blowing
.
—
People
will
begin
to
think
I
am
an
alligator
if
they
see
me
always
swimming
in
their
daily
ooze
.
As
far
as
sex
is
concerned
,
I
am
that
.
Sex
,
Hobson
,
is
a
German
study
.
A
German
study
.
”
He
shook
his
head
in
a
dejected
,
drunken
way
,
protruding
his
lips
.
He
seemed
to
find
analogies
for
his
repeating
habits
,
with
the
digestion
.
—
“
All
the
same
,
you
must
take
my
word
for
much
in
that
connexion
.
—
The
choice
of
a
wife
is
not
practical
in
the
way
that
the
securing
of
a
good
bicycle
,
hygiene
,
or
advertisement
is
.
You
must
think
more
of
the
dishes
of
the
table
.
Rembrandt
paints
decrepit
old
Jews
,
the
most
decayed
specimens
of
the
lowest
race
on
earth
,
that
is
.
Shakespeare
deals
in
human
tubs
of
grease
—
Falstaff
;
Christ
in
sinners
.
Now
as
to
sex
;
Socrates
married
a
shrew
;
most
of
the
wisest
men
marry
fools
,
picture
post
cards
,
cows
,
or
strumpets
.
”
“
I
don’t
think
that
is
quite
true
.
”
Hobson
resurrected
himself
dutifully
.
“
The
more
sensible
people
I
can
think
of
off-hand
have
more
sensible
,
and
on
the
whole
prettier
,
wives
than
other
people
.
”
“
Prettier
wives
?
—
You
are
describing
a
meaningless
average
.
—
The
most
suspicious
fact
about
a
distinguished
man
is
the
possession
of
a
distinguished
wife
.
But
you
might
just
as
well
say
in
answer
to
my
Art
statement
that
Sir
Edward
Leighton
did
not
paint
the
decayed
meat
of
humanity
.
”
Hobson
surged
up
a
little
in
his
chair
and
collapsed
.
—
He
had
to
appeal
to
his
body
to
sustain
the
argument
.
“
Neither
did
Raphael
—
I
don’t
see
why
you
should
drag
Rembrandt
in
—
Rembrandt
—
”
“
You’re
going
to
sniff
at
Rembrandt
!
—
You
accuse
me
of
following
the
fashions
in
my
liking
for
Cubism
.
You
are
much
more
fashionable
yourself
.
Would
you
mind
my
‘dragging
in’
cheese
,
high
game
—
—
?
”
Hobson
allowed
cheeses
with
a
rather
drawn
expression
.
But
he
did
not
see
what
that
had
to
do
with
it
,
either
.
“
It
is
not
purely
a
question
of
appetite
,
”
he
said
.
“
Sex
,
sir
,
is
purely
a
question
of
appetite
!
”
Tarr
replied
.
Hobson
inclined
himself
mincingly
,
with
a
sweet
chuckle
.
“
If
it
is
pure
sex
,
that
is
,
”
Tarr
added
.
“
Oh
,
if
it
is
pure
sex
—
that
,
naturally
—
—
”
Hobson
convulsed
himself
and
crowed
thrice
.
“
Listen
,
Hobson
!
—
You
mustn’t
make
that
noise
.
It’s
very
clever
of
you
to
be
able
to
.
But
you
will
not
succeed
in
rattling
me
by
making
me
feel
I
am
addressing
a
rooster
—
—
”
Hobson
let
himself
go
in
whoops
and
caws
,
as
though
Tarr
had
been
pressing
him
to
perform
.
When
he
had
finished
,
Tarr
said
:
“
Are
you
willing
to
consider
sex
seriously
,
or
not
?
”
“
Yes
,
I
don’t
mind
.
”
—
Hobson
settled
down
,
his
face
flushed
from
his
late
display
.
—
“
But
I
shall
begin
to
believe
before
very
long
that
your
intentions
are
honourable
as
regards
the
fair
Fräulein
.
—
What
exactly
is
your
discourse
intended
to
prove
?
”
“
Not
the
desirability
of
the
marriage
tie
,
any
more
than
a
propaganda
for
representation
and
anecdote
in
art
.
But
if
a
man
marries
,
or
a
great
painter
represents
(
and
the
claims
and
seductions
of
life
are
very
urgent
)
,
he
will
not
be
governed
in
his
choice
by
the
same
laws
that
regulate
the
life
of
an
efficient
citizen
,
a
successful
merchant
,
or
the
ideals
of
a
health
expert
.
”
“
I
should
have
said
that
the
considerations
that
precede
a
proposition
of
marriage
had
many
analogies
with
the
health
expert’s
outlook
,
the
good
citizen’s
—
—
”
“
Was
Napoleon
successful
in
life
,
or
did
he
ruin
himself
and
end
his
days
in
miserable
captivity
?
—
Passion
precludes
the
idea
of
success
.
Failure
is
its
condition
.
—
Art
and
Sex
when
they
are
deep
enough
make
tragedies
,
and
not
advertisements
for
Health
experts
,
or
happy
endings
for
the
Public
,
or
social
panaceas
.
”
“
Alas
,
that
is
true
.
”
“
Well
,
then
,
well
,
then
,
Alan
Hobson
,
vou
scarecrow
of
an
advanced
fool-farm
,
deplorable
pedant
of
a
sophistic
voice-culture
—
—
”
“
I
?
My
voice
—
?
But
that’s
absurd
!
—
If
my
speech
—
—
”
Hobson
was
up
in
arms
about
his
voice
:
although
it
was
not
his
.
Tarr
needed
a
grimacing
,
tumultuous
mask
for
the
face
he
had
to
cover
.
—
The
clown
was
the
only
rôle
that
was
ample
enough
.
He
had
compared
his
clowning
with
Hobson’s
Pierrotesque
and
French
variety
.
But
Hobson
,
he
considered
,
was
a
crowd
.
—
You
could
not
say
he
was
an
individual
.
—
He
was
a
set
.
He
sat
there
,
a
cultivated
audience
.
—
He
had
the
aplomb
and
absence
of
self-consciousness
of
numbers
,
of
the
herd
—
of
those
who
know
they
are
not
alone
.
—
Tarr
was
shy
and
the
reverse
by
turns
.
He
was
alone
.
The
individual
is
rustic
.
For
distinguishing
feature
Hobson
possessed
a
distinguished
absence
of
personality
.
Tarr
gazed
on
this
impersonality
,
of
crowd
origin
,
with
autocratic
scorn
.
Alan
Hobson
was
a
humble
investor
.
“
But
we’re
talking
at
cross
purposes
,
Hobson
.
—
You
think
I
am
contending
that
affection
for
a
dolt
,
like
my
fiancée
,
is
in
some
way
a
merit
.
I
do
not
mean
that
.
Also
,
I
do
not
mean
that
sex
is
my
tragedy
,
but
art
.
—
I
will
explain
why
I
am
associated
sexually
with
this
pumpkin
.
First
,
I
am
an
artist
.
—
With
most
people
,
not
describable
as
artists
,
all
the
finer
part
of
their
vitality
goes
into
sex
.
They
become
third-rate
poets
during
their
courtship
.
All
their
instincts
of
drama
come
out
freshly
with
their
wives
.
The
artist
is
he
in
whom
this
emotionality
normally
absorbed
by
sex
is
so
strong
that
it
claims
a
newer
and
more
exclusive
field
of
deployment
.
—
Its
first
creation
is
the
Artist
himself
,
a
new
sort
of
person
;
the
creative
man
.
But
for
the
first-rate
poet
,
nothing
short
of
a
Queen
or
a
Chimera
is
adequate
for
the
powers
of
his
praise
.
—
And
so
on
all
through
the
bunch
of
his
gifts
.
One
by
one
his
powers
and
moyens
are
turned
away
from
the
usual
object
of
a
man’s
poetry
,
and
turned
away
from
the
immediate
world
.
One
solitary
thing
is
left
facing
a
woman
.
—
That
is
his
sex
,
a
lonely
phallus
.
—
Things
are
not
quite
so
simple
in
actual
fact
as
this
.
Some
artists
are
less
complete
than
others
.
More
or
less
remains
to
the
man
.
—
Then
the
character
of
the
artist’s
creation
comes
in
.
What
tendency
has
my
work
as
an
artist
,
a
ready
instance
?
You
may
have
noticed
that
it
has
that
of
an
invariable
severity
.
Apart
from
its
being
good
or
bad
,
its
character
is
ascetic
rather
than
sensuous
,
and
divorced
from
immediate
life
.
There
is
no
slop
of
sex
in
that
.
But
there
is
no
severity
left
over
for
the
work
of
the
cruder
senses
either
.
Very
often
with
an
artist
whose
work
is
very
sensuous
or
human
,
his
sex
instinct
,
if
it
is
active
,
will
be
more
discriminating
than
with
a
man
more
fastidious
and
discriminating
than
he
in
his
work
.
To
sum
up
this
part
of
my
disclosure
.
—
No
one
could
have
a
coarser
,
more
foolish
,
slovenly
taste
than
I
have
in
women
.
It
is
not
even
sluttish
and
abject
,
of
the
J
.
W
.
M
.
Turner
type
,
with
his
washerwoman
at
Gravesend
.
—
It
is
bourgeois
,
banal
,
pretty-pretty
,
a
cross
between
the
Musical
Comedy
stage
and
the
ideal
of
the
Eighteenth-Century
gallant
.
All
the
delicate
psychology
another
man
naturally
seeks
in
a
woman
,
the
curiosity
of
form
,
windows
on
other
lives
,
love
and
passion
,
I
seek
in
my
work
and
not
elsewhere
.
—
Form
would
perhaps
be
thickened
by
child-bearing
;
it
would
perhaps
be
damaged
by
harlotry
.
—
Why
should
sex
still
be
active
?
That
is
a
matter
of
heredity
that
has
nothing
to
do
with
the
general
energies
of
the
mind
.
I
see
I
am
boring
you
.
—
The
matter
is
too
remote
!
—
But
you
have
trespassed
here
,
and
you
must
listen
.
—
I
cannot
let
you
off
before
you
have
heard
,
and
shown
that
you
understand
.
—
If
you
do
not
sit
and
listen
,
I
will
write
it
all
to
you
.
You
will
be
made
to
hear
it
!
—
And
after
I
have
told
you
this
,
I
will
tell
you
why
I
am
talking
to
a
fool
like
you
!
”
“
You
ask
me
to
be
polite
—
—
”
“
I
don’t
mind
how
impolite
you
are
so
long
as
you
listen
.
”
“
Well
,
I
am
listening
—
with
interest
.
”
Tarr
was
tearing
,
as
he
saw
it
,
at
the
blankets
that
swaddled
this
spirit
in
its
inner
snobberies
.
—
A
bitter
feast
was
steaming
hot
,
and
a
mouth
must
be
found
to
eat
it
.
This
beggar’s
had
to
serve
.
It
was
,
above
all
,
an
ear
,
all
the
nerves
complete
.
He
must
get
his
words
into
it
.
They
must
not
be
swallowed
at
a
gulp
.
They
must
taste
,
sting
,
and
benefit
by
the
meaning
of
an
appetite
.
—
He
had
something
to
say
.
It
must
be
said
while
it
was
living
.
Once
it
was
said
,
it
could
look
after
itself
.
—
Hobson
had
shocked
something
that
was
ready
to
burst
out
.
He
must
help
it
out
.
Hobson
must
pay
as
well
for
the
intimacy
.
He
must
pay
Bertha
Lunken
afterwards
.
He
felt
like
insisting
that
he
should
come
round
and
apologize
to
her
.
“
A
man
only
goes
and
confesses
his
faults
to
the
world
when
his
self
will
not
acknowledge
or
listen
to
them
.
The
function
of
a
friend
is
to
be
a
substitute
for
this
defective
self
,
to
be
the
World
and
the
Real
without
the
disastrous
consequences
of
reality
.
—
Yet
punishment
is
one
of
his
chief
offices
.
—
The
friend
enlarges
also
substantially
the
boundaries
of
our
solitude
.
”
This
was
written
in
Tarr’s
diary
.
He
was
now
chastising
this
self
he
wrote
of
for
not
listening
,
by
telling
the
first
stranger
met
.
—
Had
a
friend
been
there
he
could
have
interceded
for
his
ego
.
“
You
have
followed
so
far
?
”
Tarr
looked
with
slow
disdainful
suspicion
at
Hobson’s
face
staring
at
the
ground
.
“
You
have
understood
the
nature
of
my
secret
?
—
Half
of
myself
I
have
to
hide
.
I
am
bitterly
ashamed
of
a
slovenly
,
common
portion
of
my
life
that
has
been
isolated
and
repudiated
by
the
energies
I
am
so
proud
of
.
‘
I
am
ashamed
of
the
number
of
Germans
I
know
,
’
as
you
put
it
.
—
I
have
in
that
rôle
to
cower
and
slink
away
even
from
an
old
fruit-tin
like
you
.
It
is
useless
heroically
to
protect
that
section
of
my
life
.
It’s
no
good
sticking
up
for
it
.
It
is
not
worth
protecting
.
It
is
not
even
up
to
your
standards
.
I
have
,
therefore
,
to
deliver
it
over
to
your
eyes
,
and
eyes
of
the
likes
of
you
,
in
the
end
—
if
you
will
deign
to
use
them
!
—
I
even
have
to
beg
you
to
use
your
eyes
;
to
hold
you
by
the
sleeve
and
crave
a
glance
for
an
object
belonging
to
me
!
“
In
this
compartment
of
my
life
I
have
not
a
vestige
of
passion
.
—
That
is
the
root
reason
for
its
meanness
and
absurdity
.
—
The
best
friend
of
my
Dr.
Jekyll
would
not
know
my
Mr.
Hyde
,
and
vice
versa
.
This
rudimentary
self
is
more
starved
and
stupid
than
any
other
man’s
.
Or
to
put
it
less
or
more
humbly
,
I
am
of
that
company
who
are
reduced
to
looking
to
Socrates
for
a
consoling
lead
.
“
Think
of
all
the
collages
,
marriages
,
and
liaisons
that
you
know
,
in
which
some
frowsy
or
foolish
or
doll-like
or
log-like
bitch
accompanies
the
form
of
an
otherwise
sensible
man
:
a
dumbfounding
,
disgusting
,
and
septic
ghost
!
“
How
foul
and
wrong
this
haunting
of
women
is
!
—
They
are
everywhere
!
—
Confusing
,
blurring
,
libelling
,
with
their
half-baked
,
gushing
,
tawdry
presences
!
It
is
like
a
slop
of
children
and
the
bawling
machinery
of
the
inside
of
life
,
always
and
all
over
our
palaces
.
Their
silly
flood
of
cheap
illusion
comes
in
between
friendships
,
stagnates
complacently
around
a
softened
mind
.
“
I
might
almost
take
some
credit
to
myself
for
at
least
having
the
grace
to
keep
this
bear-garden
in
the
background
.
”
Hobson
had
brightened
up
while
this
was
proceeding
.
—
He
now
said
:
“
You
might
almost
.
—
Why
don’t
you
?
I
admire
what
you
tell
me
.
But
you
appear
to
take
your
German
foibles
too
much
to
heart
.
”
“
Just
at
present
I
am
engaged
in
a
gala
of
the
heart
.
You
may
have
noticed
that
.
—
I
am
not
a
strict
landlord
with
the
various
personalities
gathered
beneath
my
roof
.
—
In
the
present
case
I
am
really
blessed
.
But
you
should
see
the
sluts
that
get
in
sometimes
I
They
all
become
steadily
my
fiancée
too
.
—
fiancée
!
Observe
how
one
apes
the
forms
of
conventional
life
.
It
does
not
mean
anything
,
so
one
lets
it
stop
.
Its
the
same
with
the
café
fools
I
have
for
friends
—
there’s
a
Greek
fool
,
a
German
fool
,
a
Russian
fool
,
—
an
English
fool
!
—
There
are
no
‘
friends
’
in
this
life
any
more
than
there
are
‘
fiancées.’
So
it
doesn’t
matter
.
You
drift
on
side
by
side
with
this
live
stock
—
friends
,
fiancées
,
‘colleagues
,
’
and
what
not
.
”
Hobson
sat
staring
with
a
bemused
seriousness
at
the
ground
.
“
Why
should
I
not
speak
plainly
and
cruelly
of
my
poor
,
ridiculous
fiancée
to
you
or
any
one
?
—
After
all
,
it
is
chiefly
myself
I
am
castigating
.
—
But
you
,
too
,
must
be
of
the
party
!
The
right
to
see
implies
the
right
to
be
seen
.
As
an
offset
for
your
prying
,
scurvy
way
of
peeping
into
my
affairs
you
must
offer
your
own
guts
,
such
as
they
are
—
—
!
”
“
How
have
I
pried
into
your
affairs
?
”
Hobson
asked
with
a
circumspect
surprise
.
“
Any
one
who
stands
outside
,
who
hides
himself
in
a
deliquescent
aloofness
,
is
a
sneak
and
a
spy
—
—
”
That
seems
to
me
to
be
a
case
of
smut
calling
the
kettle
black
.
I
should
not
have
said
that
you
were
conspicuous
—
—
’
’
“
No.
—
You
know
you
have
joined
yourself
to
those
who
hush
their
voices
to
hear
what
other
people
are
saying
!
—
Every
one
who
does
not
fight
openly
and
bear
his
share
of
the
common
burden
of
ignominy
in
life
,
is
a
sneak
,
unless
it
is
for
a
solid
motive
.
—
The
quiet
you
claim
is
not
to
work
in
.
—
What
have
you
exchanged
your
temper
,
your
freedom
,
and
your
fine
voice
against
?
You
have
exchanged
them
for
an
old
hat
that
does
not
belong
to
you
,
and
a
shabbiness
you
have
not
merited
by
suffering
neediness
.
—
Your
pseudo-neediness
is
a
sentimental
indulgence
.
—
Every
man
should
be
forced
to
dress
up
to
his
income
,
and
make
a
smart
,
fresh
appearance
.
—
Patching
the
seat
of
your
trousers
,
instead
—
—
!
”
“
Wait
a
minute
,
”
Hobson
said
,
with
a
laugh
.
“
You
accuse
me
of
sentimentality
in
my
choice
of
costume
.
I
wonder
if
you
are
as
free
from
sentimentality
.
”
“
I
don’t
care
a
tinker’s
blue
curse
about
that
.
—
I
am
talking
about
you
.
—
Let
me
proceed
.
—
With
your
training
,
you
are
decked
in
the
plumes
of
very
fine
birds
indeed
.
But
your
plumes
are
not
meant
to
fly
with
,
but
merely
to
slouch
and
skip
along
the
surface
of
the
earth
.
—
You
wear
the
livery
of
a
ridiculous
set
,
you
are
a
cunning
and
sleek
domestic
.
No
thought
can
come
out
of
your
head
before
it
has
slipped
on
its
uniform
.
All
your
instincts
are
drugged
with
a
malicious
languor
,
an
arm
,
a
respectability
,
invented
by
a
set
of
old
women
and
mean
,
cadaverous
little
boys
.
”
Hobson
opened
his
mouth
,
had
a
movement
of
the
body
to
speak
.
But
he
relapsed
.
“
You
reply
,
‘
What
is
all
this
fuss
about
?
I
have
done
the
best
for
myself
.
—
I
was
not
suited
for
any
heroic
station
,
like
yours
.
I
live
sensibly
and
quietly
,
cultivating
my
vegetable
ideas
,
and
also
my
roses
and
Victorian
lilies
.
—
I
do
no
harm
to
anybody
.
”
“
That
is
not
quite
the
case
.
That
is
a
little
inexact
.
Your
proceedings
possess
a
herdesque
astuteness
;
in
the
scale
against
the
individual
weighing
less
than
the
Yellow
Press
,
yet
being
a
closer
and
meaner
attack
.
Also
you
are
essentially
spies
,
in
a
scurvy
,
safe
and
well-paid
service
,
as
I
told
you
before
.
You
are
disguised
to
look
like
the
thing
it
is
your
function
to
betray
—
What
is
your
position
?
—
You
have
bought
for
eight
hundred
pounds
at
an
aristocratic
educational
establishment
a
complete
mental
outfit
,
a
programme
of
manners
.
For
four
years
you
trained
with
other
recruits
.
You
are
now
a
perfectly
disciplined
social
unit
,
with
a
profound
esprit
de
corps
.
The
Cambridge
set
that
you
represent
is
as
observed
in
an
average
specimen
,
a
cross
between
a
Quaker
,
a
Pederast
,
and
a
Chelsea
artist
.
—
Your
Oxford
brothers
,
dating
from
the
Wilde
decade
,
are
a
stronger
body
.
The
Chelsea
artists
are
much
less
flimsy
.
The
Quakers
are
powerful
rascals
.
You
represent
,
my
Hobson
,
the
dregs
of
Anglo-Saxon
civilization
!
—
There
is
nothing
softer
on
earth
.
—
Your
flabby
potion
is
a
mixture
of
the
lees
of
Liberalism
,
the
poor
froth
blown
off
the
decadent
nineties
,
the
wardrobe
—
leavings
of
a
vulgar
Bohemianism
with
its
head-quarters
in
Chelsea
!
“
You
are
concentrated
,
systematic
slop
.
—
There
is
nothing
in
the
universe
to
be
said
for
you
.
—
Any
efficient
State
would
confiscate
your
property
,
burn
your
wardrobe
,
that
old
hat
,
and
the
rest
,
as
infecte
and
insanitary
,
and
prohibit
you
from
propagating
.
”
Tarr’s
white
collar
shone
dazzlingly
in
the
sun
.
—
His
bowler
hat
bobbed
and
cut
clean
lines
as
he
spoke
.
“
A
breed
of
mild
pervasive
cabbages
has
set
up
a
wide
and
creeping
rot
in
the
West
of
Europe
.
—
They
make
it
indirectly
a
peril
and
tribulation
for
live
things
to
remain
in
the
neighbourhood
.
You
are
systematizing
and
vulgarizing
the
individual
.
—
You
are
not
an
individual
.
You
have
,
I
repeat
,
no
right
to
that
hair
and
that
hat
.
You
are
trying
to
have
the
apple
and
eat
it
too
.
—
You
should
be
in
uniform
,
and
at
work
,
not
uniformly
out
of
uniform
,
and
libelling
the
Artist
by
your
idleness
.
Are
you
idle
?
”
Tarr
had
drawn
up
short
,
turned
squarely
on
Hobson
;
in
an
abrupt
and
disconnected
voice
he
asked
his
question
.
Hobson
stirred
resentfully
in
his
chair
.
He
yawned
a
little
.
He
replied
:
“
Am
I
idle
,
did
you
say
?
Yes
,
I
suppose
I
am
not
particularly
industrious
.
But
how
does
that
affect
you
?
You
know
you
don’t
mean
all
that
nonsense
.
Vous
vous
moquez
de
moi
!
Where
are
you
coming
to
?
”
“
I
have
explained
already
where
I
come
in
.
It
is
stupid
to
be
idle
.
You
go
to
seed
.
—
The
only
justification
for
your
slovenly
appearance
,
it
is
true
,
is
that
it
is
ideally
emblematic
.
”
“
My
dear
Tarr
,
you’re
a
strange
fellow
.
I
can’t
see
why
these
things
should
occupy
you
.
—
You
have
just
told
me
a
lot
of
things
that
may
be
true
or
may
not
.
But
at
the
end
of
them
all
—
?
Et
alors
?
—
alors
?
—
quoi
?
one
asks
.
You
contradict
yourself
.
You
know
you
don’t
think
what
you
talk
.
You
deafen
me
with
your
upside-downness
.
”
He
gesticulated
,
got
the
French
guttural
r
with
satisfaction
,
and
said
the
quoi
rather
briskly
.
“
In
any
case
my
hat
is
my
business
!
”
he
concluded
quickly
,
after
a
moment
,
getting
up
with
a
curling
,
luscious
laugh
.
The
garçon
hurried
up
and
they
paid
.
“
No
,
I
am
responsible
for
you
.
—
I
am
one
of
the
only
people
who
see
.
That
is
a
responsibility
.
”
—
Tarr
walked
down
the
boulevard
with
him
,
speaking
in
his
ear
almost
,
and
treading
on
his
toes
.
“
You
know
Baudelaire’s
fable
of
the
obsequious
vagabond
,
cringing
for
alms
?
For
all
reply
,
the
poet
seizes
a
heavy
stick
and
belabours
the
beggar
with
it
.
The
beggar
then
,
when
he
is
almost
beaten
to
a
pulp
,
suddenly
straightens
out
beneath
the
blows
;
expands
,
stretches
;
his
eyes
dart
fire
!
He
rises
up
and
falls
on
the
poet
tooth
and
nail
.
In
a
few
seconds
he
has
laid
him
out
flat
,
and
is
just
going
to
finish
him
off
,
when
an
agent
arrives
.
—
The
poet
is
enchanted
.
He
has
accomplished
something
!
“
Would
it
be
possible
to
achieve
a
work
of
that
description
with
you
?
No.
You
are
meaner-spirited
than
the
most
abject
tramp
.
I
would
seize
you
by
the
throat
at
once
if
I
thought
you
would
black
my
eye
.
But
I
feel
it
my
duty
at
least
to
do
this
for
your
hat
.
Your
hat
,
at
least
,
will
have
had
its
little
drama
to-day
.
”
Tarr
knocked
his
hat
off
into
the
road
.
—
Without
troubling
to
wait
for
the
results
of
this
action
,
he
hurried
away
down
the
Boulevard
du
Paradis
.
CHAPTER
II
A
great
many
of
Frederick
Tarr’s
resolutions
came
from
his
conversation
.
It
was
a
tribunal
to
which
he
brought
his
hesitations
.
An
active
and
hustling
spirit
presided
over
this
section
of
his
life
.
Civilized
men
have
for
conversation
something
of
the
superstitious
feeling
that
ignorant
men
have
for
the
written
or
the
printed
word
.
Hobson
had
attracted
a
great
deal
of
steam
to
himself
.
Tarr
was
unsatisfied
.
—
He
rushed
away
from
the
café
Berne
still
strong
and
with
much
more
to
say
.
He
rushed
towards
Bertha
to
say
it
.
A
third
of
the
way
he
came
on
a
friend
who
should
have
been
met
before
Hobson
.
Then
Bertha
and
he
could
have
been
spared
.
Butcher
was
a
bloody
wastrel
enamoured
of
gold
and
liberty
.
—
He
was
a
romantic
,
educating
his
schoolboyish
sense
of
adventure
up
to
the
pitch
of
drama
.
He
had
been
induced
by
Tarr
to
develop
an
interest
in
commerce
.
He
had
started
a
motor
business
in
Paris
,
and
through
circularizing
the
Americans
resident
there
and
using
his
English
connexions
,
he
was
succeeding
on
the
lines
suggested
.
'
Tarr
had
argued
that
an
interest
of
this
sort
would
prevent
him
from
becoming
arty
and
silly
.
—
Tarr
would
have
driven
his
entire
circle
of
acquaintances
into
commerce
if
he
could
.
He
had
at
first
cherished
the
ambition
of
getting
Hobson
into
a
bank
in
South
Africa
.
As
he
rushed
along
then
a
gaunt
car
met
him
,
rushing
in
the
opposite
direction
.
Butcher’s
large
red
nose
stood
under
a
check
cap
phenomenally
peaked
.
A
sweater
and
Yankee
jacket
exaggerated
his
breadth
.
He
was
sunk
in
horizontal
massiveness
in
the
car
—
almost
in
the
road
.
A
quizzing
,
heavy
smile
broke
his
face
open
in
an
indifferent
businesslike
way
.
It
was
a
sour
smile
,
as
though
half
his
face
were
frozen
with
cocaine
.
—
He
pulled
up
with
the
air
of
an
Iron-Age
mechanic
,
born
among
beds
of
embryonic
machinery
.
“
Ah
,
I
thought
I
might
see
you
.
”
—
He
rolled
over
the
edge
and
stood
grinning
and
stretching
in
front
of
his
friend
.
“
Where
are
you
off
to
?
”
Tarr
asked
.
“
I
heard
there
were
some
gypsies
encamped
over
by
Charenton
.
”
—
He
smiled
and
waited
,
his
entire
face
breaking
up
expectantly
into
cunning
pits
and
traps
.
—
Mention
of
“
gypsies
”
usually
drew
Tarr
.
They
were
a
survival
of
Butcher’s
pre-motor
days
.
“
Neglecting
business
?
”
was
all
Tarr
said
however
.
“
Have
you
time
for
a
drink
?
”
“
Yes
!
”
Butcher
turned
with
an
airy
jerk
to
his
car
.
“
Shall
we
go
to
the
Panthéon
?
”
“
How
about
the
Univers
?
Would
that
take
long
?
”
“
The
Univers
?
Four
or
five
minutes
.
—
Jump
in
.
”
When
they
had
got
to
the
Univers
and
ordered
their
drink
,
Tarr
said
:
“
I’ve
just
been
talking
to
Alan
Hobson
.
I’ve
been
telling
him
off
.
”
“
That’s
right
.
—
How
had
he
deserved
it
?
”
“
Oh
,
he
happened
to
drop
on
me
when
I
was
thinking
about
my
girl
.
He
began
congratulating
me
on
my
engagement
.
So
I
gave
him
my
views
on
marriage
,
and
then
wound
up
with
a
little
improvisation
about
himself
.
”
Butcher
maintained
a
decorous
silence
,
drinking
his
beer
.
“
You’re
not
engaged
to
be
married
,
are
you
?
”
he
asked
.
.
“
Well
,
that’s
a
difficult
question
.
”
—
Tarr
laughed
with
circumspection
and
softness
.
“
I
don’t
know
whether
I
am
or
whether
I’m
not
.
”
“
Would
it
be
the
German
girl
,
if
you
were
?
”
“
Yes
,
she’d
be
the
one
.
”
There
was
a
careful
absence
of
comment
in
Butcher’s
face
.
“
Ought
I
to
marry
the
Lunken
?
”
“
No
,
”
Butcher
said
with
measure
.
“
In
that
case
I
ought
to
tell
her
at
once
.
”
“
That
is
so
.
”
Tarr
had
a
dark
morning
coat
,
whose
tails
flowed
behind
him
as
he
walked
strongly
and
quickly
along
,
and
curled
on
either
side
of
his
hips
as
he
sat
.
It
was
buttoned
half-way
down
the
body
.
—
He
was
taller
than
Butcher
,
wore
glasses
,
had
a
dark
skin
,
and
a
steady
,
unamiable
,
impatient
expression
.
He
was
clean-shaven
,
with
a
shallow
,
square
jaw
and
straight
,
thick
mouth
.
—
His
hands
were
square
and
usually
hot
.
He
impressed
you
as
having
inherited
himself
last
week
,
and
as
under
a
great
press
of
business
to
grasp
the
details
and
resources
of
the
concern
.
Not
very
much
satisfaction
at
his
inheritance
,
and
no
swank
.
Great
capacity
was
printed
all
over
him
.
—
He
did
not
appear
to
have
been
modified
as
yet
by
any
sedentary
,
sentimental
,
or
other
discipline
or
habit
.
He
was
at
his
first
push
in
an
ardent
and
exotic
world
,
with
a
good
fund
of
passion
from
a
frigid
climate
of
his
own
.
—
His
mistakes
he
talked
over
without
embarrassment
.
He
felt
them
deeply
.
He
was
experimental
and
modest
.
A
rude
and
hard
infancy
,
according
to
Balzac
,
is
best
for
development
of
character
.
A
child
learns
duplicity
,
and
hardens
in
defence
.
—
An
enervating
childhood
of
molly-coddling
,
on
the
other
hand
,
such
as
Tarr’s
,
has
its
advantages
.
—
He
was
an
only
child
of
a
selfish
,
vigorous
mother
.
The
long
foundation
of
delicate
trustfulness
and
childishness
makes
for
a
store
of
illusion
to
prolong
youth
and
health
beyond
the
usual
term
.
Tarr
,
with
the
Balzac
upbringing
,
would
have
had
a
little
too
much
character
,
like
a
rather
too
muscular
man
.
As
it
was
,
he
was
a
shade
too
nervous
.
But
his
confidence
in
the
backing
of
character
was
unparalleled
.
You
would
have
thought
he
had
an
iron-field
behind
him
.
When
he
solicited
advice
,
it
was
transparently
a
matter
of
form
.
But
he
appeared
to
need
his
own
advice
to
come
from
himself
in
public
.
—
Did
he
feel
himself
of
more
importance
in
public
?
—
His
relation
to
the
world
was
definite
and
complementary
.
He
preferred
his
own
word
to
come
out
of
the
air
;
when
,
that
is
,
issuing
from
his
mouth
,
it
entered
either
ear
as
an
independent
vibration
.
He
was
the
kind
of
man
who
,
if
he
ever
should
wish
to
influence
the
world
,
would
do
it
so
that
he
might
touch
himself
more
plastically
through
others
.
He
would
paint
his
picture
for
himself
.
He
was
capable
of
respect
for
his
self-projection
.
It
had
the
authority
of
a
stranger
for
him
.
Butcher
knew
that
his
advice
was
not
really
solicited
.
—
This
he
found
rather
annoying
,
as
he
wanted
to
meddle
.
But
his
opportunity
would
come
.
—
Tarr’s
affairs
with
Bertha
Lunken
were
very
exasperating
.
Of
all
the
drab
,
dull
,
and
disproportionately
long
liaisons
,
that
one
was
unique
!
He
had
accepted
it
as
an
incomprehensible
and
silly
joke
.
“
She’s
a
very
good
sort
.
You
know
,
she
is
phenomenally
kind
.
It’s
not
quite
so
absurd
as
you
think
,
my
question
as
to
whether
I
should
marry
her
.
Her
love
is
quite
beyond
question
.
”
Butcher
listened
with
a
slight
rolling
of
the
eyes
,
which
was
a
soft
equivalent
for
grinding
his
teeth
.
Tarr
proceeded
:
“
She
has
a
nice
healthy
penchant
for
self-immolation
;
not
,
unfortunately
,
directed
by
any
considerable
tact
or
discretion
.
She
is
apt
to
lie
down
on
the
altar
at
the
wrong
moment
—
even
to
mistake
all
sorts
of
unrelated
things
for
altars
.
She
once
lay
down
on
the
pavement
of
the
Boulevard
Sebastopol
,
and
continued
to
