we had more lives of obscure persons; one wants to know
what other people are thinking and feeling about it all; what joys they
anticipate, what fears they sustain, how they regard the end and
cessation of life and perception, which waits for us all. The worst of
it is that people are often so modest; they think that their own
experience is so dull, so unromantic, so uninteresting. It is an entire
mistake. If the dullest person in the world would only put down
sincerely what he or she thought about his or her life, about work and
love, religion and emotion, it would be a fascinating document. My only
sorrow is that the amateurs of whom I have spoken above will not do
this; they rather turn to external and impersonal impressions, relate
definite things, what they see on their travels, for instance,
describing just the things which any one can see. They tend to indulge
in the melancholy labour of translation, or employ customary, familiar
forms, such as the novel or the play. If only they would write diaries
and publish them; compose imaginary letters; let one inside the house
of self instead of keeping one wandering in the park! The real interest
of literature is the apprehending of other points of view; one spends
an immense time in what is called society, in the pursuit of other
people's views; but what a very little grain results from an
intolerable deal of chaff! And all because people are conventional and
not simple-minded; because they will not say what they think; indeed
they will not as a rule try to find out what they do think, but prefer
to traffic with the conventional counters. Yet what a refreshment it is
to meet with a perfectly sincere person, who makes you feel that you
are in real contact with a human being! This is what we ought to aim at
in writing: at a perfectly sincere presentment of our thoughts. We
cannot, of course, all of us hope to have views upon art, upon
theology, upon politics, upon education, because we may not have any
experience in these subjects; but we have all of us experience in life,
in nature, in emotion, in religion; and to express what we feel, as
sincerely as we can, is certainly useful to ourselves, because it
clears our view, leads us not to confuse hopes with certainties,
enables us to disentangle what we really believe from what we
conventionally adopt.

Of course this cannot be done all at once; when we first begin to
write, we find how difficult it is to keep the thread of