Outlines

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Excerpt from Outlines: A Collection of Brief Imaginative Studies Related to Many Phases of Thought, and Representing an Effort to Give an Interpretation to Familiar Human Experiences It was with some concern that I began to publish brief fictional studies in the San Francisco Bulletin. There was a question, whether, in a daily newspaper, they would meet approval. At first I had little response. As I went on, however, I was led to believe that the studies were making an appeal. Meanwhile, I had become fascinated with expressing ideas in this way. The allegorical form I found particularly attractive. There was the special charm of working in a realm where the surface narrative was less significant than what lay beneath. The name of the studies I chose because it suggested what, in writing them, I had tried to do. They might easily have been amplified into stories much longer. And yet, I liked to think that, in their brevity, they carried their meaning with clearness. If the reader wished he might fill out the outlines for himself, with, possibly, more satisfaction than if the work had been done for him. Obviously, to the reasonably careful reader, the meaning of an allegory or of any imaginative work, ought to be plain. If, in any instance here, the meaning invites question or causes bewilderment the fault is mine. On first publication "The Wife of the Prophet" led to so astonishing a misconception on the part of a few readers that I might have thought of rewriting it if, to other readers, the intention had not been clear. "Before the Throne" brought upon me some censure. One correspondent treated me with severity for what he considered my encouragement of evil-doing. The scheme, suggested by one of the two friends mentioned in the dedication, I believed to be highly ethical. I was so pleased with it, that, to escape the torment of keeping it in my mind and of fearing that I might spoil it, I set to work on it at once. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.