Chapter 23 Section five

Early in the morning, the clerks and junior clerks in Tickna Fields were busy.Dr. Holmes was the first member of Dante's Club to arrive.Being a little early, he had to pace the hall to pass the time, and then decided to stop by Fields' office. "Oh, I'm sorry, sir." He opened the door and found someone in the office, and closed the door while apologizing. A thin, sullen face turned toward the window.Holmes recognized it immediately. "Why, dear Emerson!" Holmes beamed. Ralph Waldo Emerson was lanky and slightly stooped, in a blue coat and black scarf.He recovered from his contemplation and greeted Holmes.It was a rare occurrence to see the poet and orator Emerson far from Concord.Concord was a small village of literary prodigies that at one point rivaled Boston, notably after Harvard banned Emerson from speaking on campus for declaring Unitarianism dead in a lecture he gave at the seminary This situation became more pronounced thereafter.Emerson is the only American writer who is as famous as Longfellow, so even Holmes, a figure at the center of the literary world, is very happy and honored to meet the writer. "I just came back from the annual academic lecture, which was generously funded by the contemporary poet Mycinus." Emerson put one hand on Fields' desk, as if blessing the believers, It was a gesture he had acquired as a priest, "Guardian and protector of us all. I happen to have a few articles for him."

"Oh, it's time for you to go back to Boston. We're empty without you at the Saturday Club. We're on the verge of calling a protest meeting and asking for your permission to come back!" Holmes said. "Thank you, I would never have received such a warm welcome." Emerson smiled, "You know, we don't sneak in letters to those in power or to our friends, but we only find time to write to lawyers who collect debts." Or ask someone to help us fix the house." Immediately afterwards, Emerson asked how Holmes was doing. After a long string of anecdotes, Holmes said: "I've been thinking about writing another novel." He dared not say that he had started, because he was a little apprehensive of Emerson.Emerson is quick in thinking and persuasive in speaking. Anyone who listens to his opinions will feel that he seems to be wrong and only he is right.

"Oh, I wish you would write it, my dear Holmes," said Emerson sincerely, "you will live up to my expectations. Tell me about the aggressive Captain. Is he still studying law?" ?” Holmes laughed nervously at the mention of young Holmes, as if the subject of his son was ridiculous; "I've dabbled in law before, and found it to be a piece of cake. Little Holmes wrote good poetry, though not as good as mine. He moved home again, like a white Othello, sitting in the library In the rocking chair, to tell young Desdemona the story of his wounds, to win her heart. Sometimes I think he dislikes me very much. Do your children dislike you, Emerson?"

Emerson was stunned for a while, and said, "There is no peace between father and son, Holmes." When he said this, the expression on his face was that of a grown-up man stepping on pebbles across a stream.Holmes saw Emerson's prudence from it, and he relaxed his uneasy mood.He wanted the conversation to continue, but he also knew that Emerson might end it at any moment without warning. "Dear Emerson, may I ask a question?" Holmes sincerely wanted to ask Emerson for advice, but he offered no advice. "What do you think of myself, Fields and Lowell? I mean, what do you think of us helping Longfellow translate Dante's Divine Comedy?"

Emerson frowned tightly, as if frozen by frost. "If Socrates were here, Holmes, we could talk to him in the street. As for our dear Longfellow, we can't talk to him. He's a palace with servants and wine List, well dressed." Emerson bowed his head in thought for a moment, and then said: "I occasionally think of the days when I studied Dante under Professor Tickner, just like you, but I always think that Dante It’s a treasure, like a Tertiary mammoth — it should be in a museum, not in someone’s home.” "But you once said to me that introducing Dante to America would be one of the most significant achievements of this century!" insisted Holmes.

"Yes." Emerson considered Holmes's words carefully, and he liked to consider all sides of the problem as well as possible. I don't want to deal with a few empty talkers, they are eloquent and chattering, not for anything else, just for everyone to flatter each other." "But what would literature be like if the writers didn't communicate with each other?" laughed Holmes, who was protecting the whole Dante Club from harm. "Who can say that the great plays Not Shakespeare and Ben Jonson admiring each other, not Beaumont and Fletcher." Emerson smoothed out the article he had brought to Fields to show that the purpose of his trip had been accomplished. "Remember, the first true American poet was only he who transformed the genius of the past into actual force. And the first true reader was destined to be born in the streets and not in the temple of Athena. America The spirit is supposed to be cowardly, imitative, and docile, because our respectable, well-mannered scholars are lazy. The soul of our country, world-oriented, is obsessed with itself. Without action, the scholar is not yet a man .Ideas must be practiced by good people to become reality, otherwise they are just dreams. When I read Longfellow, I can rest assured that there is no worry at all. Our future will not be born from here .”

Holmes felt that Emerson had given him a Sphinx riddle that no one could solve.After Emerson left, he decided to keep the conversation a secret from the rest of the Dante Club. "Is it really possible?" Fields asked after talking to Bucky, "that beggar Lonza was so influenced by The Divine Comedy that he thought it was more important than all life, is it possible?" "It is neither the first time nor the last that literature has seized upon a fragile soul. Think of John Wilkes Booth," Holmes said, "in The moment Lincoln was shot, he yelled in Latin, 'Down with the tyrant forever'. This is what Brutus said when he assassinated Julius Caesar. In Booth's eyes, Lincoln was the Roman emperor. Remember, Booth is a Shakespeare actor, just as our Satan is a brilliant Dante researcher. We read, understand, and interpret every day, but never set our hands to do what we secretly hope to happen, but precisely This guy, put it into action, made it happen."

After hearing Holmes' words, Longfellow was inexplicably surprised, "However, Booth and Lonza seem to have done this unintentionally." "Bucky must have been hiding something about Lonza!" Lowell said dejectedly. "You see, he was very reluctant, Holmes. What do you think?" "It's like stroking a hedgehog," Holmes agreed. "If a man starts attacking Boston, and starts harboring a grudge against the head of government or the capital, he can be sure that his days are numbered. Poor Edgar." Poe was full of whining and complaining shortly before his death in the hospital. So it is safe to say that if you see a man slipping into this situation, you had better not lend him any more money, because his death is not far away. "

"This poor fellow." As soon as Poe was mentioned, Lowell muttered and began to complain. "Bucky's been guessing," said Longfellow. "Poor Bucky. Losing his job will only make him more miserable, and no doubt he's not going to be kind in his despair." our."

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