"Conrad, Joseph - Notes On Life And Letters" - читать интересную книгу автора (Conrad Joseph)

for other reasons that cannot be helped: because the leaves fall,
the water flows, the clock ticks with that horrid pitiless
solemnity which you must have observed in the ticking of the hall
clock at home. For reasons like that. Yes! It recedes. And this
was the chance to afford one more view of it--even to my own eyes.

The section within this volume called Letters explains itself,
though I do not pretend to say that it justifies its own existence.
It claims nothing in its defence except the right of speech which I
believe belongs to everybody outside a Trappist monastery. The
part I have ventured, for shortness' sake, to call Life, may
perhaps justify itself by the emotional sincerity of the feelings
to which the various papers included under that head owe their
origin. And as they relate to events of which everyone has a date,
they are in the nature of sign-posts pointing out the direction my
thoughts were compelled to take at the various cross-roads. If
anybody detects any sort of consistency in the choice, this will be
only proof positive that wisdom had nothing to do with it. Whether
right or wrong, instinct alone is invariable; a fact which only
adds a deeper shade to its inherent mystery. The appearance of
intellectuality these pieces may present at first sight is merely
the result of the arrangement of words. The logic that may be
found there is only the logic of the language. But I need not
labour the point. There will be plenty of people sagacious enough
to perceive the absence of all wisdom from these pages. But I
believe sufficiently in human sympathies to imagine that very few
will question their sincerity. Whatever delusions I may have
suffered from I have had no delusions as to the nature of the facts
commented on here. I may have misjudged their import: but that is
the sort of error for which one may expect a certain amount of
toleration.

The only paper of this collection which has never been published
before is the Note on the Polish Problem. It was written at the
request of a friend to be shown privately, and its "Protectorate"
idea, sprung from a strong sense of the critical nature of the
situation, was shaped by the actual circumstances of the time. The
time was about a month before the entrance of Roumania into the
war, and though, honestly, I had seen already the shadow of coming
events I could not permit my misgivings to enter into and destroy
the structure of my plan. I still believe that there was some
sense in it. It may certainly be charged with the appearance of
lack of faith and it lays itself open to the throwing of many
stones; but my object was practical and I had to consider warily
the preconceived notions of the people to whom it was implicitly
addressed, and also their unjustifiable hopes. They were
unjustifiable, but who was to tell them that? I mean who was wise
enough and convincing enough to show them the inanity of their
mental attitude? The whole atmosphere was poisoned with visions
that were not so much false as simply impossible. They were also