Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, Vol. 1 of 2
Blackwood, the bookseller, to recast the upwinding of the plot of The Black Dwarf. The bookseller not only objected to the text as it stood, but, on the advice of some nameless lit erary person, on whose taste he placed great reliance, suggested an outline of a better conclusion to, the story, and Offered to bear the expense of cancelling the printed sheets if his proposal was adopted. The blood of Scott literally boiled in his veins. Dear James, he wrote to Ballantyne, I have received Blackwood's impudent letter. G. (1. His 8. Tell him and his coadjutor that I belong to the Black Hussars of Literature, who neither give nor receive criticism. I'll be cursed but this is the most impudent proposal that ever was made. The unaccustomed profanity of Scott in this missive only shows how fierce was his momentary resentment of the suggestion, that the bookseller and the bookseller' s literary man should presume to sit in judgment on any product of his genius. The rage of Dickens, though the circumstances were not the same, was identical in spirit with that of Scott. The hint of Mr. Hall that the firm might think it prudent to enforce a clause the necessity of which was never anticipated in the original agreement, wounded him to the quick. His consciousness of inward power, far exceeding that by which he had achieved his previous triumphs, was touched in its most sensitive nerve. He knew that he was doing some thing better than he had formerly done; he was correspondingly irritated at the suggestion that his popularity was decreasing in the same ratio in which he felt his genius was increasing; and naturally suspected that his publishers were busied with the apprehension that - to vary Macaulay's words regarding Godol phin, when that horse-racing statesman feared a counter revolu 'tion - they had bet too high on Dickens, and that it was high time for them to hedge. Dickens's wrath at this insult to his personal pride, and to his pride as an author, mildly insinu ated as it was, became ungovernable; for though personally the most genial and jovial of men among his companions, though never presuming to condescend to anybody, and receiving every body he met, whether lord or litte'rateur, on one level of equality, he had a morbidly quick sense of personal dignity.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
