The period is that which follows on my connection with Blackwood’s Magazine. I had just finished writing “The End of the Tether” and was casting about for some subject which could be developed in a shorter form than the tales in the volume of “Youth” when the instance of a steamship1 full of returning coolies from Singapore to some port in northern China occurred to my recollection. Years before I had heard it being talked about in the East as a recent occurrence. It was for us merely one subject of conversation amongst many others of the kind. Men earning their bread in any very specialized3 occupation will talk shop, not only because it is the most vital interest of their lives but also because they have not much knowledge of other subjects. They have never had the time to get acquainted with them. Life, for most of us, is not so much a hard as an exacting4 taskmaster.
I never met anybody personally concerned in this affair, the interest of which for us was, of course, not the bad weather but the extraordinary complication brought into the ship’s life at a moment of exceptional stress by the human element below her deck. Neither was the story itself ever enlarged upon in my hearing. In that company each of us could imagine easily what the whole thing was like. The financial difficulty of it, presenting also a human problem, was solved by a mind much too simple to be perplexed5 by anything in the world except men’s idle talk for which it was not adapted.
From the first the mere2 anecdote6, the mere statement I might say, that such a thing had happened on the high seas, appeared to me a sufficient subject for meditation7. Yet it was but a bit of a sea yarn8 after all. I felt that to bring out its deeper significance which was quite apparent to me, something other, something more was required; a leading motive9 that would harmonize all these violent noises, and a point of view that would put all that elemental fury into its proper place.
What was needed of course was Captain MacWhirr. Directly I perceived him I could see that he was the man for the situation. I don’t mean to say that I ever saw Captain MacWhirr in the flesh, or had ever come in contact with his literal mind and his dauntless temperament10. MacWhirr is not an acquaintance of a few hours, or a few weeks, or a few months. He is the product of twenty years of life. My own life. Conscious invention had little to do with him. If it is true that Captain MacWhirr never walked and breathed on this earth (which I find for my part extremely difficult to believe) I can also assure my readers that he is perfectly11 authentic12. I may venture to assert the same of every aspect of the story, while I confess that the particular typhoon of the tale was not a typhoon of my actual experience.
At its first appearance “Typhoon,” the story, was classed by some critics as a deliberately13 intended storm-piece. Others picked out MacWhirr, in whom they perceived a definite symbolic14 intention. Neither was exclusively my intention. Both the typhoon and Captain MacWhirr presented themselves to me as the necessities of the deep conviction with which I approached the subject of the story. It was their opportunity. It was also my opportunity; and it would be vain to discourse15 about what I made of it in a handful of pages, since the pages themselves are here, between the covers of this volume, to speak for themselves.
This is a belated reflection. If it had occurred to me before it would have perhaps done away with the existence of this Author’s Note; for, indeed, the same remark applies to every story in this volume. None of them are stories of experience in the absolute sense of the word. Experience in them is but the canvas of the attempted picture. Each of them has its more than one intention. With each the question is what the writer has done with his opportunity; and each answers the question for itself in words which, if I may say so without undue16 solemnity, were written with a conscientious17 regard for the truth of my own sensations. And each of those stories, to mean something, must justify18 itself in its own way to the conscience of each successive reader.
“Falk” — the second story in the volume — offended the delicacy19 of one critic at least by certain peculiarities20 of its subject. But what is the subject of “Falk”? I personally do not feel so very certain about it. He who reads must find out for himself. My intention in writing “Falk” was not to shock anybody. As in most of my writings I insist not on the events but on their effect upon the persons in the tale. But in everything I have written there is always one invariable intention, and that is to capture the reader’s attention, by securing his interest and enlisting21 his sympathies for the matter in hand, whatever it may be, within the limits of the visible world and within the boundaries of human emotions.
I may safely say that Falk is absolutely true to my experience of certain straightforward22 characters combining a perfectly natural ruthlessness with a certain amount of moral delicacy. Falk obeys the law of self-preservation without the slightest misgivings23 as to his right, but at a crucial turn of that ruthlessly preserved life he will not condescend24 to dodge25 the truth. As he is presented as sensitive enough to be affected26 permanently27 by a certain unusual experience, that experience had to be set by me before the reader vividly28; but it is not the subject of the tale. If we go by mere facts then the subject is Falk’s attempt to get married; in which the narrator of the tale finds himself unexpectedly involved both on its ruthless and its delicate side.
“Falk” shares with one other of my stories (“The Return” in the “Tales of Unrest” volume) the distinction of never having been serialized. I think the copy was shown to the editor of some magazine who rejected it indignantly on the sole ground that “the girl never says anything.” This is perfectly true. From first to last Hermann’s niece utters no word in the tale — and it is not because she is dumb, but for the simple reason that whenever she happens to come under the observation of the narrator she has either no occasion or is too profoundly moved to speak. The editor, who obviously had read the story, might have perceived that for himself. Apparently29 he did not, and I refrained from pointing out the impossibility to him because, since he did not venture to say that “the girl” did not live, I felt no concern at his indignation.
All the other stories were serialized. The “Typhoon” appeared in the early numbers of the Pall30 Mall Magazine, then under the direction of the late Mr. Halkett. It was on that occasion, too, that I saw for the first time my conceptions rendered by an artist in another medium. Mr. Maurice Grieffenhagen knew how to combine in his illustrations the effect of his own most distinguished31 personal vision with an absolute fidelity32 to the inspiration of the writer. “Amy Foster” was published in The Illustrated33 London News with a fine drawing of Amy on her day out giving tea to the children at her home, in a hat with a big feather. “To-morrow” appeared first in the Pall Mall Magazine. Of that story I will only say that it struck many people by its adaptability34 to the stage and that I was induced to dramatize it under the title of “One Day More”; up to the present my only effort in that direction. I may also add that each of the four stories on their appearance in book form was picked out on various grounds as the “best of the lot” by different critics, who reviewed the volume with a warmth of appreciation35 and understanding, a sympathetic insight and a friendliness36 of expression for which I cannot be sufficiently37 grateful.
1919. J. C.
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1
steamship
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| n.汽船，轮船 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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specialized
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| adj.专门的，专业化的 | |
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exacting
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| adj.苛求的，要求严格的 | |
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perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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anecdote
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| n.轶事，趣闻，短故事 | |
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meditation
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| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
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8
yarn
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| n.纱，纱线，纺线；奇闻漫谈，旅行轶事 | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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authentic
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| a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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symbolic
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| adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的 | |
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discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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16
undue
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| adj.过分的；不适当的；未到期的 | |
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conscientious
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| adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的 | |
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justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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peculiarities
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| n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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enlisting
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| v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的现在分词 )；获得（帮助或支持） | |
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straightforward
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| adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的 | |
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misgivings
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| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕；疑虑，担心，恐惧( misgiving的名词复数 )；疑惧 | |
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condescend
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| v.俯就，屈尊；堕落，丢丑 | |
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dodge
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| v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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permanently
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| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
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vividly
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| adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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pall
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| v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕 | |
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31
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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32
fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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33
illustrated
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| adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词 | |
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34
adaptability
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| n.适应性 | |
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appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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36
friendliness
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| n.友谊，亲切，亲密 | |
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37
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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