the decay of essay writing

Question 1

if you have a monster like the British public to feed, you will try to tickle its stale

Answer 1

palate in in new ways; fresh and amusing shapes must be given to old commodities

Question 2

for we really have nothing new to say that will fit into one of the

Answer 2

familiar forms

Question 3

we try to be new by

Answer 3

being old

Question 4

in short, there is no end to our devices

Answer 4

and at this very moment probably some ingenious youth is concocting a fresh one which, be it ever so new, will grow stale in its turn

Question 5

essayists wrote because the gift of writing has

Answer 5

been bestowed upon them

Question 6

there are of course certain distinguished people who use this medium from genuine inspiration because

Answer 6

it best embodies the soul of their thought

Question 7

the essay then owes its popularity to the fact that

Answer 7

its proper use is to express one’s personal peculiarities, so that under the decent veil of print one can indulge one’s egoism to the full

Question 8

you need know nothing of art or music or literature to have a certain interest in their production and the great burden of

Answer 8

modern criticism is simply the expression of such individual likes and dislikes

Question 9

let them leave the great mysteries of art and literature unassailed; if they told us frankly not of the books that we can all read and the pictures which hang for us all to see, but

Answer 9

of that single book to which they have the key and of that solitary picture whose face is shrouded to all one but gaze

Question 10

if they would write of themselves- such writing would have

Answer 10

its own permanent value

Question 11

but though it seems thus easy to write of oneself, it is, as we know,

Answer 11

a feat but seldom accomplished

Question 12

of of the multitude of autobiographies written, one or two alone are

Answer 12

what they pretend to be

Question 13

confronted with the terrible spectre of themselves, the bravest are inclined to

Answer 13

run away or shade their eyes

Question 14

instead the honest truth which we should all respect, we are given timid side glances in

Answer 14

the shape of essays

Question 15

those who do not sacrifice their beliefs to the turn of a phrase or the glitter of paradox think it beneath the dignity of the printed word

Answer 15

to say simply what it means; in print they must pretend to an oracular and infallible nature