Chapter I: Front Matter

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

The original punctuation and spelling were retained, with the exception of a few printer's mistakes. The text contains also inconsistently spelled words. The full list of both changes to the text and the inconsistencies in spelling can be found at the end of this file.

BOOKS BY JAMES HUNEKER

PUBLISHED BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

UNICORNS. 12mo, _net_, $1.75

IVORY APES AND PEACOCKS. 12mo, _net_, $1.50

NEW COSMOPOLIS. 12mo, _net_, $1.50

THE PATHOS OF DISTANCE. 12mo, _net_, $2.00

FRANZ LISZT. Illustrated. 12mo, _net_, $2.00

PROMENADES OF AN IMPRESSIONIST. 12mo, _net_, $1.50

EGOISTS: A BOOK OF SUPERMEN. 12mo, _net_, $1.50

ICONOCLASTS: A BOOK OF DRAMATISTS. 12mo, _net_, $1.50

OVERTONES: A BOOK OF TEMPERAMENTS. 12mo, _net_, $1.50

MEZZOTINTS IN MODERN MUSIC. 12mo, _net_, $1.50

CHOPIN: THE MAN AND HIS MUSIC. With Portrait. 12mo, _net_, $2.00

VISIONARIES. 12mo, _net_, $1.50

MELOMANIACS. 12mo, _net_, $1.50

UNICORNS

UNICORNS

BY

JAMES HUNEKER

"I would write on the lintels
of the door-post, 'Whim.'"
--_Emerson_

NEW YORK

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

1917

COPYRIGHT, 1917, by
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

Published September, 1917

COPYRIGHT, 1906, BY THE NEW YORK HERALD COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, 1907, BY THE RIDGEWAY COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, 1909, 1911, 1916, 1917, BY THE SUN PRINTING AND
PUBLISHING CO.
COPYRIGHT, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917, BY THE NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, 1915, 1916, BY PUCK PUBLISHING CO.
COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY NORTH AMERICAN
COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY THE NEW YORK EVENING MAIL

THIS BOOK
OF SPLEEN AND GOSSIP IS INSCRIBED
TO MY FRIEND
EDWARD ZIEGLER

"Come! let us lay a crazy lance in rest
And tilt at windmills under a wild sky."
--_John Galsworthy._

"He is a fribble, a sonsy faddle, whose conceits veer with the
breeze like a creaking weather-vane. As the sterile moon hath
her librations, so must he boast of his oscillations, thinking
them eternal verities. A very cockatoo in his perched-up vanity
and prodigious clatter...."
[_From "The Velvet Cactus." Anonymous.
Printed at the Sign of the Cat and
Cameo, Threadneedle Street, London.
A.D. 1723. Rare._]

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. IN PRAISE OF UNICORNS 1

II. AN AMERICAN COMPOSER: THE PASSING OF EDWARD MACDOWELL 6

III. REMY DE GOURMONT: HIS IDEAS. THE COLOUR OF HIS MIND 18

IV. ARTZIBASHEF 33

V. A NOTE ON HENRY JAMES 53

VI. GEORGE SAND 67

VII. THE GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL 82

VIII. THE CASE OF PAUL CEZANNE 96

IX. BRAHMSODY 106

X. THE OPINIONS OF J.-K. HUYSMANS 111

XI. STYLE AND RHYTHM IN ENGLISH PROSE 121

XII. THE QUEEREST YARN IN THE WORLD 139

XIII. ON REREADING MALLOCK 151

XIV. THE LOST MASTER 161

XV. THE GRAND MANNER IN PIANOFORTE PLAYING 171

XVI. JAMES JOYCE 187

XVII. CREATIVE INVOLUTION 195

XVIII. FOUR DIMENSIONAL VISTAS 203

XIX. O. W. 212

XX. A SYNTHESIS OF THE SEVEN ARTS 218

XXI. THE CLASSIC CHOPIN 228

XXII. LITTLE MIRRORS OF SINCERITY 241

XXIII. THE REFORMATION OF GEORGE MOORE 261

XXIV. PILLOWLAND 277

XXV. CROSS-CURRENTS IN MODERN FRENCH LITERATURE 283

XXVI. MORE ABOUT RICHARD WAGNER 300

XXVII. MY FIRST MUSICAL ADVENTURE 317

XXVIII. VIOLINISTS NOW AND YESTERYEAR 323

XXIX. RIDING THE WHIRLWIND 339

XXX. PRAYERS FOR THE LIVING 353

UNICORNS