WCP3182

Letter (WCP3182.3150)

[1]1

Hotel Royal

Varenna,

Italy.

April 24 18992

Dear Dr Wallace,

I despair in giving you in writing all the reason why your suggestion is for me an impossible one. There are eleven thousand: I will contend myself with two. The first is practical: [2] I have to write stories which Editors will accept — and the public will buy. Now no Editor will take a socialist story — I have tried and failed: and the public will not buy such stories to a sufficient extent to pay for the trouble. as a general rule the more in earnest I am [3] about a subject, the less I get for it. The second reason is artistic; a story grows out of a plot or intuition and cannot be forced in the way you describe, or I at least do not know how to force it. Plots come: I could not invent a plot in order to sustain a particular thesis. Thank you so much [4] for the many kind expressions in you letter.Come and see us some day on Hind Head when you are passing up or down and we will thrash this matter out more fully.

With very kind regards.

Cordially yours | Grant Allen3 [signature]

1
Printed in red on the first page top right hand corner is this address "The Croft, Hind Head, Haslemere" and on the top left hand corner "Telegrams," followed by a second line "Allen, Croft, Grayshott" both slanted at 45º angle. On the top left hand corner, there is also a hand-written remark "About a suggested Social Novel! died Oct 1899 — (age51)" but the hand appears different from the author of the letter and the ink is in lighter colour.
2
The year 1899 appeared to be added on by the same person who wrote the remark.
3
An impression in red of a crown and the words British Museum appear after the signature.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Letter (WCP3182.3150)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by Lo, Yen-Nyuk [2019-01-05] Transcription checked by Lo, Yen [2019-01-05] Transcription checked by Sherwood, Danni [2020-08-10]

Please cite as “WCP3182,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP3182