The man who writes the narrative of his own experiences
should thus realise that time is measured, not by the amount of seconds it absorbs, but by the intensity of experience it contains ; and that unless he can communicate to his readers an intensity of experience similar to his own he will find that the chronological method complicates, instead of simplifying, his proportions. On the other hand, the man who writes the story of other men's experiences (the man, that is, who writes biography or history) is less exposed to such subjective dislocations ; for him the time-sequence does in fact constitute a useful blue-print. His task is to arrange and to interpret a vast mass of material in such a manner as to provide a true and lucid narrative ; and as such his difficulty is almost wholly one of preparation and arrangement. The beginner who decides to write a history or a biography should realise that his main difficulty will not be the actual writing of the narrative but the pre- vious absorption and arrangement of his material. I recommend, for what it is worth, the following procedure. The intending biographer, or historian should first purchase a very large, and if possible a loose-leaved, note-book. He should then acquire the most detailed standard work upon his subject. He should then devote much time and troubfe to summarising in his note-book the facts and com- ments contained in the standard work. If he does this carefully, legibly and methodically, if he above all leaves himself a large amount of space for subsequent additions, he will then after much toil have before him the main outlines of the narrative to which he wishes to give his personal interpretation. Thereafter he will read all available works or documents bearing on his subject, and will insert in his note-book all the additional material he ac- quires. He must have the energy and the patience to write out these references in full, so that in the end his note-book contains; correctly arranged, far more material than he can possibly use. He can then discard all works of reference and use his note-book as the, sole quarry from which to build his house.
* *
Previous page
