ACQUIRING A LITERARY STYLE
“When did you find time to seriously apply yourself to literature?”
“I think I did so before I really had the time. Literary aspirations were stirred in me by the great authors whom I successively discovered, and I was perpetually imitating the writings of these,—modeling some composition of my own after theirs, but never willing to own it.”
“Do you attribute your style to the composite influence of these various models?”
“No doubt they had their effect, as a whole, but individually I was freed from the last by each succeeding author, until at length I came to understand that I must be like myself, and no other.”
“Had you any conveniences for literary research, beyond the bookcase in your home?”
“If you mean a place to work, I had a narrow, little space, under the stairs. There was a desk pushed back against the wall, which the irregular ceiling sloped down to meet, behind it; and at my left was a window, which gave a good light on the writing leaf of my desk. This was