CHAPTER LVI

 Some of the provincial¹ cities said the play was disgustingly immoral² and the police ought to stop it. The accusation³ hurt. Was it immoral? A certain clergy⁴ man said 

 

the play was a sermon; a certain critic said it was vile⁵. Which was true? It is not pleasant to be called vile even though the epithet⁶ has been hurled⁷ at many of the 

 

noblest.

 

The bitter discussion it aroused wounded Vickery mortally. Eldon told him that nothing was better for success than to arouse discussion, and that the final proof of 

 

great art is its ability to make a lot of people ferociously⁸ angry.

 

But Vickery would not be cheered up. He said that the bumps were killing⁹ him.

 

“You see, I’m so lean and weak, I’ve got no shock-absorbers. I can’t do anything but cough like a damned he-Camille.”

 

Sheila and Batterson and even Reben begged him to leave the company and go back to town. But he was in a frenzy¹⁰ for perfection. He was relentless¹¹ with his own lines 

 

and scenes. He denounced them rabidly. He tore out pages of manuscript from the prompt-copy, and sat at the table writing new scenes while the rehearsals¹² went on. 

 

Between the acts he wrote new lines. He wrote in a terrible hurry. He was in a terrible hurry.

 

But he was in a frenzy for perfection. He was relentless with the actors. Every word, every silence, was important to him as a link in his chain of gold.

 

Batterson and Reben and Sheila questioned many of his words, phrases, and even whole scenes. Everybody had a more or less respectful criticism, a more or less 

 

brilliant contribution, but Vickery had had enough of this piecemeal¹³ microscopy.

 

“A play succeeds or falls by its big idea,” he said, “by its big sweep, and nothing else matters. The greatest play in the world is ‘Hamlet,’ and it’s so full of 

 

faults that a whole library has been written about it. But you can’t kill its big points. What difference does it make how the shore-line runs if your ocean is an 

 

ocean? Let me alone, I tell you. Do my play the best you can, then we’ll soon know if the public wants it.

 

“You ruined one play for me, Mr. Reben, but you can’t monkey with this one. I thought of all the objections you’ve made and a hundred others when I was writing it. 

 

I liked it this way then, and I knew as much then as I do now—only I was red-hot at the time, and I’m not going to fool with it in cold blood.”

 

There were arguments and instances enough against him, and Reben and Batterson showered him with stories of plays that had been saved from disaster by collaboration¹⁴. 

 

He answered with stories of plays that had succeeded without it and plays that had crashed in spite of it.

 

“It’s all a gamble,” he cried. “Let’s throw our coin on one number and either make or lose. Anyway, my contract says you can’t alter a line without my consent, 

 

and you’ll never get that. It’s my last play, and it’s my own play, and they’ve got to take it or leave it just as I write it.”

 

They yielded more in deference¹⁵ to his feelings than to his art.

 

At last the company turned to charge down upon New York. They arrived at three o’clock on a Sunday morning.

 

As Sheila and Mrs. Vining rode through the streets to their hotel they saw on all sides the work of the advertising¹⁶ men. On bill-boards were big “stands” with Sheila

 

’s name in letters as big as herself. On smaller boards her full-length portrait smiled at her from “three sheets.” In the windows were “half-sheets.” Even the 

 

garbage-cans proclaimed her name.

 

Fame was a terrifying thing.

 

Sunday was given over to a prolonged dress-rehearsal beginning at noon and lasting¹⁷ till four the next morning. At about three o’clock in the afternoon Eugene Vickery 

 

in the midst of a wrangle¹⁸ over a scene was overcome with his illness.

 

A doctor who was brought in haste picked him up and carried him to a taxicab and sped with him to a hospital. The troupe¹⁹ was staggered like a line of infantry²⁰ in which 

 

the first shell drops. Then it closed together and went on.

 

The next day Sheila visited Eugene and never found a r?le so hard to play as the character of Hope at the bedside of Despair.

 

The nurse would not let her stay long and forbade Vickery to talk, but he managed to whisper, brokenly:

 

“Don’t worry about me. Don’t think about me. Work for yourself and the play. That will be working for me. If it succeeds, it’s a kind of a little immortality²¹ for 

 

me; if it fails—well, don’t worry, I won’t mind—then. Go and rest now. I’ve no strength to give you, or I’d make you as strong as a giant—you poor, brave, 

 

beautiful little woman! God bless you! Good luck!”

 

1 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

2 immoral   

adj.不道德的，淫荡的，荒淫的，有伤风化的

参考例句：

• She was questioned about his immoral conduct toward her.她被询问过有关他对她的不道德行为的情况。
• It is my belief that nuclear weapons are immoral.我相信使核武器是不邪恶的。

3 accusation   

n.控告，指责，谴责

参考例句：

• I was furious at his making such an accusation.我对他的这种责备非常气愤。
• She knew that no one would believe her accusation.她知道没人会相信她的指控。

4 clergy   

n.[总称]牧师，神职人员

参考例句：

• I could heartily wish that more of our country clergy would follow this example.我衷心希望，我国有更多的牧师效法这个榜样。
• All the local clergy attended the ceremony.当地所有的牧师出席了仪式。

5 vile   

adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的

参考例句：

• Who could have carried out such a vile attack?会是谁发起这么卑鄙的攻击呢？
• Her talk was full of vile curses.她的话里充满着恶毒的咒骂。

6 epithet   

n.（用于褒贬人物等的）表述形容词，修饰语

参考例句：

• In "Alfred the Great","the Great"is an epithet.“阿尔弗雷德大帝”中的“大帝”是个称号。
• It is an epithet that sums up my feelings.这是一个简洁地表达了我思想感情的形容词。

7 hurled   

v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂

参考例句：

• He hurled a brick through the window. 他往窗户里扔了块砖。
• The strong wind hurled down bits of the roof. 大风把屋顶的瓦片刮了下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 ferociously   

野蛮地，残忍地

参考例句：

• The buck shook his antlers ferociously. 那雄鹿猛烈地摇动他的鹿角。
• At intervals, he gritted his teeth ferociously. 他不时狠狠的轧平。

9 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

10 frenzy   

n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动

参考例句：

• He was able to work the young students up into a frenzy.他能激起青年学生的狂热。
• They were singing in a frenzy of joy.他们欣喜若狂地高声歌唱。

11 relentless   

adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的

参考例句：

• The traffic noise is relentless.交通车辆的噪音一刻也不停止。
• Their training has to be relentless.他们的训练必须是无情的。

12 rehearsals   

n.练习( rehearsal的名词复数 )；排练；复述；重复

参考例句：

• The earlier protests had just been dress rehearsals for full-scale revolution. 早期的抗议仅仅是大革命开始前的预演。
• She worked like a demon all through rehearsals. 她每次排演时始终精力过人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 piecemeal   

adj.零碎的；n.片，块；adv.逐渐地；v.弄成碎块

参考例句：

• A lack of narrative drive leaves the reader with piecemeal vignettes.叙述缺乏吸引力，读者读到的只是一些支离破碎的片段。
• Let's settle the matter at one stroke,not piecemeal.把这事一气儿解决了吧，别零敲碎打了。

14 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

15 deference   

n.尊重，顺从；敬意

参考例句：

• Do you treat your parents and teachers with deference?你对父母师长尊敬吗？
• The major defect of their work was deference to authority.他们的主要缺陷是趋从权威。

16 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

17 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

18 wrangle   

vi.争吵

参考例句：

• I don't want to get into a wrangle with the committee.我不想同委员会发生争执。
• The two countries fell out in a bitter wrangle over imports.这两个国家在有关进口问题的激烈争吵中闹翻了。

19 troupe   

n.剧团，戏班；杂技团；马戏团

参考例句：

• The art troupe is always on the move in frontier guards.文工团常年在边防部队流动。
• The troupe produced a new play last night.剧团昨晚上演了一部新剧。

20 infantry   

n.[总称]步兵(部队)

参考例句：

• The infantry were equipped with flame throwers.步兵都装备有喷火器。
• We have less infantry than the enemy.我们的步兵比敌人少。

21 immortality   

n.不死，不朽

参考例句：

• belief in the immortality of the soul 灵魂不灭的信念
• It was like having immortality while you were still alive. 仿佛是当你仍然活着的时候就得到了永生。