DOI article:
A Birthday Letter
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26392#0021
From “The Yellow Dwarf” 17
quality of the silliness of Trilby is Wegotism. I mean that the
author’s constant attitude towards his reader is an attitude of
Me-and-Youness. “Me and you—we see these things thus; we
feel thus, think thus, speak thus ; and thereby we approve our-
selves a couple of devilish superior persons, don’t you know ?
Common, ordinary, unenlightened persons wouldn’t understand
us. But we understand each other.” That is the tone of Trilby
from first line to last. The author takes his reader by the arm,
and flatters his self-conceit with a continuous flow of cheery,
unctuous, cooing Wegotism. Conceive the joy of your average
plebeian American or Briton, your photographer, your dentist,
thus to be singled out and hob-a-nobbed with by a “ real gentle-
man ” ; made a companion of—the recipient of his softly-mur-
mured reminiscences and reflections, all of them trite and obvious,
and couched in a language it is perfectly easy to understand.
“ Botticelli, Mantegna, and Co.” ! Why, that phrase alone,
occurring on page 2, would make your shop-walker’s lady feel at
home from the commencement.
I have mentioned the priggishness of Trilby. Were there ever
three such insufferable prigs as Taffy, the Laird, and little Billee ?
—No, no ; I don’t mean three ; two, two ; for Taffy and the
Laird are one and indistinguishable.—Were there ever two such
insufferable prigs as Taffy-the-Laird and Little Billee ? And isn’t
their priggishness all the more offensive because they are vainly
posing the whole time for devil-may-care, rollicking good fellows ?
I personally know nothing about the Latin Quarter; but you,
sir, are regarded as its exegetist. May I ask you for a little
information ? In your day, in the Latin Quarter, wouldn’t the
students amongst whom they dwelled have risen in a mass and
“done something” to Taffy-the-Laird and little Billee? I
have heard grisly stories. I have heard that students in the
Latin
quality of the silliness of Trilby is Wegotism. I mean that the
author’s constant attitude towards his reader is an attitude of
Me-and-Youness. “Me and you—we see these things thus; we
feel thus, think thus, speak thus ; and thereby we approve our-
selves a couple of devilish superior persons, don’t you know ?
Common, ordinary, unenlightened persons wouldn’t understand
us. But we understand each other.” That is the tone of Trilby
from first line to last. The author takes his reader by the arm,
and flatters his self-conceit with a continuous flow of cheery,
unctuous, cooing Wegotism. Conceive the joy of your average
plebeian American or Briton, your photographer, your dentist,
thus to be singled out and hob-a-nobbed with by a “ real gentle-
man ” ; made a companion of—the recipient of his softly-mur-
mured reminiscences and reflections, all of them trite and obvious,
and couched in a language it is perfectly easy to understand.
“ Botticelli, Mantegna, and Co.” ! Why, that phrase alone,
occurring on page 2, would make your shop-walker’s lady feel at
home from the commencement.
I have mentioned the priggishness of Trilby. Were there ever
three such insufferable prigs as Taffy, the Laird, and little Billee ?
—No, no ; I don’t mean three ; two, two ; for Taffy and the
Laird are one and indistinguishable.—Were there ever two such
insufferable prigs as Taffy-the-Laird and Little Billee ? And isn’t
their priggishness all the more offensive because they are vainly
posing the whole time for devil-may-care, rollicking good fellows ?
I personally know nothing about the Latin Quarter; but you,
sir, are regarded as its exegetist. May I ask you for a little
information ? In your day, in the Latin Quarter, wouldn’t the
students amongst whom they dwelled have risen in a mass and
“done something” to Taffy-the-Laird and little Billee? I
have heard grisly stories. I have heard that students in the
Latin