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PART ONE

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The human species—the main stem of this species, at least (certain offshoots that do not contribute to the central growth arded as exceptions)—the huree of intellectual loyalty beyond which it will be difficult to develop any further; for no progress can be conceived once perfection is attained, and there are countless signs to show that perfection has, in fact, been well-nigh reached in this particular field of morality, as in so many other realms

The ust inspired by those stray branches that have not followed us in our constant ascent toward mental probity We abhor any individual who does not “play the game” in that respect, and particularly anyone who tries to pass hi he is not The success of such terms as ‘‘charlatan” and “fraud,” which the nation to which this despicable forives rise, and also of the satisfaction we feel at seeing it condemned This is because we, the normal elements of the main stem, are always true to ourselves, do not practice fraud, never use counterfeit coins, and are nauseated by theourselves with merits we do not possess—in short, because we have become intellectually honest in the broadest sense of the word

When we are treated to one of those dissertations in which truth and candor triumph over turpitude and falsehood, we thank our lucky stars not only for our own moral rectitude but also for our infallible perspicacity; we feel that in this particular fieldpossess such standards of judgment that no impostor can possibly delude us, that no base nize at a glance any jackdaw in peacock’s feathers Since this wisdo the last few years has been prodigious), our diagnosis has the strictures and lack of fine distinctions that are only to be expected in neophytes A hu who is not all of one piece is still beyond our conception We refuse to adory, he may oscillate perpetually between duplicity and honesty without even being aware of it, and actually exhaust himself in a vain endeavor to reach a state of equilibrium

This was not the opinion held by Dr Fog Dr Fog was a reat deal of time to the study of the human brain, and who, besides his medical activities, exercised other, secret functions likewise closely connected with the mind He maintained that this state of uncertainty, this mental instability, was perfectly feasible and, indeed, fairly co was a psychiatrist, admittedly, and specialists in this field have often been known to make pronouncements contrary to all common sense

Be that as it may, when he met Cousin, alias Arvers, the doctor felt he had discovered a brain that orth particular attention and that was admirably suited to illustrate his theories The circumstances that led him to apply himself to this personality were at once as coendered them

Cousin was an intellectual Dr Fog often had to underline this point, which he considered an essential factor But to hi to a particular class of society; nor, in his view, did it necessarily proceed fro He looked upon it as the outcome of an innate, fundamental principle, the imponderable

presence or absence of which produced in hus, at birth, a differentiation as emphatic as sex In Cousin’s case, however, his profession and social background were in keeping with his character

The son of a writer, a writer hiht up on a diet of letters, having absorbed at various stages of his life a considerable body of letters, he was a ertips, a man of letters with his vices, his virtues, his absurdities, his noble or puerile enthusiasments of his

iination

At the age of thirty he had already distinguished hi He had started by writing novels In these he revealed the supreme qualities of a writer in the most brilliant manner; that is to say, he succeeded with equal felicity in enhancing reality in such a way as to endoith the glorious hues of artistic fiction and in polishing andthe products of his fantasy in such a rational manner that they eventually assumed every appearance of reality

At the end of soiven the best of hies that he ales, over certain words he had put into his characters’ mouths, his sense of conviction and emotion were condensed into a brief forraphical locality of his creation and the date of its achievement Thus, “Paris, theof October, 19” or “Timbuktoo, January 19” or even “At sea, this month of June 19” served as an outlet to his inordinate enthusiasm, and his printers never possessed any italics sufficiently forceful to do justice to this state of mind

He tried his hand at literary criticism and met with the same success; his analytical ed a simple formula that he acclaimed as the fundamental essence of the text but which was, in fact, in every case, the reflection of his own conceptions He alsofaithfully to thethenificance that corresponded, without his being aware of it, to his intuitive conviction, to his anxiety to satisfy soher authority or simply the require