Отрывок из книги
Victor Hugo
Published by Good Press, 2021
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The man who shall create this drama will require two qualities—conscientiousness and genius. The author who is now speaking has only the first, as he well knows. He will nevertheless continue what he has begun, hoping that others will do better than he. To-day an enormous public, constantly increasing in intelligence, sympathizes with all the serious efforts of art. To-day every high-minded critic assists and encourages the poet. The other judges matter little. So let the poet come forth! As for the author of this drama, sure of the future that is in store for progress, certain that, in default of talent, his perseverance will some day be counted in his favour, he gazes with serene and tranquil confidence upon the multitude which every evening encompasses this incomplete work with so much curiosity, anxiety and attention. In presence of that multitude, he realizes the responsibility that rests upon him, and he accepts it calmly. Never in his works does he lose sight for an instant of the people whom the stage civilizes; of history, which the stage explains; of the human heart, to which the stage gives counsel. To-morrow he will lay aside the work that is done for the work that is to do; he will turn his back upon that multitude, to return to his solitude—a profound solitude sheltered from every evil influence of the outside world, where youth, his friend, comes now and then to grasp his hand, where he is alone with his thoughts, his will, and his independence. His solitude will be more than ever dear to him, for only in solitude can one work for the multitude. More than ever he will keep his spirit, his thought, and his work aloof from all coteries, for he knows something greater than coteries—parties; something greater than parties—the people; something greater than the people—mankind.
November 17, 1833.
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