Appearance
Excerpt
Excerpt from Appreciations of Richard Harding Davis, by Various
Breakfast with him was not the usual American breakfast, a sullen,
dyspeptic gathering of persons who only the night before had rejoiced
in each other's society. With him it was the time when the mind is, or
ought to be, at its best, the body at its freshest and hungriest.
Discussions of the latest plays and novels, the doings and undoings of
statesmen, laughter and sentiment--to him, at breakfast, these things
were as important as sausages and thick cream.
Breakfast over, there was no dawdling and putting off of the day's work
(else how, at eleven sharp, could tennis be played with a free
conscience?). Loving, as he did, everything connected with a
newspaper, he would now pass by those on the hall-table with never so
much as a wistful glance, and hurry to his workroom.
He wrote sitting down. He wrote standing up. And, almost you may say,
he wrote walking up and down. Some people, accustomed to the delicious
ease and clarity of his style, imagine that he wrote very easily. He
did and he didn't. Letters, easy, clear, to the point, and gorgeously
human, flowed from him without let or hindrance. That masterpiece of
corresponding, "The German March through Brussels," was probably
written almost as fast as he could talk (next to Phillips Brooks he was
the fastest talker I ever heard), but when it came to fiction he had no
facility at all. Perhaps I should say that he held in contempt any
facility that he may have had. It was owing to his incomparable energy
and Joblike patience that he ever gave us any fiction at all. Every
phrase in his fiction was, of all the myriad phrases he could think of,
the fittest in his relentless judgment to survive. Phrases,
paragraphs, pages, whole stories even, were written over and over
again. He worked upon a principle of elimination. If he wished to
describe an automobile turning in at a gate, he made first a long and
elaborate description from which there was omitted no detail which the
most observant pair of eyes in Christendom had ever noted with
reference to just such a turning. Thereupon he would begin a process
of omitting one by one those details which he had been at such pains to
recall; and after each omission he would ask himself: "Does the
picture remain?" If it did not, he restored the detail which he had
just omitted, and experimented with the sacrifice of some other, and so
on, and so on, until after Herculean labor there remained for the
reader one of those, swiftly flashed, ice-clear pictures (complete in
every detail) with which his tales and romances are so delightfully and
continuously adorned.
Explanation
This excerpt from Appreciations of Richard Harding Davis (a collection of essays by various authors celebrating the life and work of the American journalist and writer Richard Harding Davis, 1864–1916) offers a vivid, intimate portrait of Davis’s daily habits, work ethic, and artistic process. The passage is rich in characterization, contrasts, and stylistic observations, revealing not only Davis’s personality but also broader themes about creativity, discipline, and the craft of writing. Below is a detailed breakdown of the text, focusing on its language, structure, and implications.
Context & Source
Richard Harding Davis was a prominent war correspondent, novelist, and playwright in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, known for his sharp wit, adventurous spirit, and elegant prose. He covered conflicts like the Spanish-American War and World War I, and his fiction often blended romance, action, and social commentary. The excerpt is from a posthumous tribute, likely written by a contemporary (possibly a fellow writer or editor), who admires Davis’s vitality, rigor, and artistic integrity.
The passage contrasts Davis’s energetic, engaged approach to life and work with the lethargy and superficiality he observed in others, particularly Americans. It also demystifies his writing process, emphasizing the labor behind his seemingly effortless style.
Themes
Vitality vs. Apathy
- The opening lines critique the "sullen, dyspeptic" American breakfast—a metaphor for modern disconnection and joyless routine. Davis’s breakfast, by contrast, is a celebration of intellect, art, and human connection, where "laughter and sentiment" are as essential as food. This reflects his Romantic-era belief in living fully, a rejection of industrial-era alienation.
- The contrast extends to his work ethic: while others "dawdle," Davis moves with purpose and discipline, balancing labor and leisure (e.g., tennis at 11 a.m. with a "free conscience").
Art as Labor vs. Art as Inspiration
- The passage dismantles the myth of effortless genius. Davis’s letters flow "without let or hindrance," but his fiction is the product of "Joblike patience" and ruthless revision. This duality highlights the difference between journalistic fluency and literary craft.
- His method—elimination through interrogation ("Does the picture remain?")—echoes Flaubert’s obsession with le mot juste and Hemingway’s "iceberg theory" (omitting superfluous details to create sharper imagery). Davis’s process is both scientific and artistic.
The Illusion of Simplicity
- The "delicious ease and clarity" of Davis’s style is revealed to be a constructed illusion. His Herculean labor produces "ice-clear pictures" that appear spontaneous. This paradox underscores a key literary truth: great art often hides its scaffolding.
The Writer’s Physicality
- Davis’s dynamic posture ("sitting down," "standing up," "walking up and down") suggests writing as a physical, almost athletic act. This challenges the stereotype of the sedentary author and aligns with his adventurous persona (he was known for his war reporting and athleticism).
Literary Devices & Stylistic Choices
Contrast & Juxtaposition
- American breakfast (sullen/dyspeptic) vs. Davis’s breakfast (vibrant/intellectual): The first sentence sets up a satirical contrast between conventional behavior and Davis’s exceptionalism.
- Letters (easy) vs. fiction (laborious): Highlights the range of his talent and the hierarchy of effort in his work.
Hyperbole & Exaggeration
- "Fastest talker I ever heard" (next to Phillips Brooks, a famous orator) and "Herculean labor" elevate Davis to mythic status, emphasizing his larger-than-life energy.
- "Every phrase... the fittest to survive" evokes Darwinian natural selection, framing his editing process as a survival-of-the-best competition.
Imagery & Sensory Language
- "Ice-clear pictures": The metaphor suggests precision, transparency, and brilliance—qualities of both his prose and his observational skills.
- "Thick cream" and "sausages": Concrete details ground the abstract (intellectual discussion) in the sensory, making his breakfast scenes vivid.
Irony & Understatement
- "He wrote very easily. He did and he didn’t." This paradoxical phrasing captures the complexity of creative work—what seems easy is often hard-won.
- "Perhaps I should say he held in contempt any facility he may have had": The self-deprecating tone (via the narrator) humorously acknowledges Davis’s perfectionism.
Anaphora & Repetition
- "He wrote sitting down. He wrote standing up. And... walking up and down.": The triple structure mimics movement, reinforcing the idea of writing as an active, embodied process.
- "So on, and so on": Mimics the iterative nature of his revisions, creating a sense of endless refinement.
Allusion
- Joblike patience: References the biblical Job’s endurance, framing Davis’s persistence as almost saintly.
- Phillips Brooks: A renowned preacher, invoked to elevate Davis’s verbal dexterity to a spiritual plane.
Significance & Broader Implications
Demystifying Genius
- The passage humanizes Davis by showing the grit behind the glamour. It’s a meta-commentary on writing itself, arguing that great art requires both talent and toil.
The Ethos of the Writer-Reporter
- Davis’s discipline (no dawdling, strict schedule) and observational rigor (noting every detail of an automobile’s turn) reflect the journalistic ideals of accuracy and economy. His fiction benefits from his reporter’s eye, but his artistic conscience demands more.
A Critique of American Culture
- The dyspeptic breakfast symbolizes modern ennui—a society that has lost joy in daily rituals. Davis’s approach is a counter-model, advocating for mindful, engaged living.
The Craft of Revision
- His elimination method is a masterclass in editing. The passage serves as advice to writers: clarity comes from omission, and every word must earn its place.
Legacy of Style
- Davis’s "ice-clear" prose influenced Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and later journalists. The excerpt explains how such clarity is achieved—not by inspiration alone, but by relentless refinement.
Close Reading of Key Lines
"Breakfast with him was not the usual American breakfast..."
- The negative construction ("not the usual") immediately signals exceptionalism. The "usual" breakfast is passive and joyless; Davis’s is active and communal.
"Discussions of the latest plays and novels... were as important as sausages and thick cream."
- The equivalence of intellectual and physical nourishment reflects Davis’s holistic approach to life. Art and food are equally vital.
"Loving, as he did, everything connected with a newspaper..."
- The interrupted syntax ("as he did") mimics casual speech, making the narrator’s voice feel intimate and conversational.
- His love for newspapers contrasts with his discipline—he resists reading them until his work is done, showing self-control.
"Every phrase... was the fittest in his relentless judgment to survive."
- The Darwinian metaphor turns writing into a battle for survival, where only the strongest words endure. This personifies his prose, giving it a life of its own.
"Swiftly flashed, ice-clear pictures"
- "Swiftly flashed": Suggests cinematic immediacy (fitting for a writer who covered fast-paced events like wars).
- "Ice-clear": Implies transparency and sharpness, but also cold precision—his prose is unsentimental yet vivid.
Conclusion: Why This Passage Matters
This excerpt is more than a biographical sketch; it’s a manifestation of Davis’s artistic philosophy. It argues that:
- Great writing is a balance of spontaneity and discipline.
- Clarity is the result of elimination, not simplicity.
- A life well-lived fuels great art (his breakfasts, tennis, and conversations are part of his creative process).
For writers, it’s a call to rigor; for readers, it’s an invitation to appreciate the invisible labor behind elegant prose. The passage itself embodies Davis’s style: lively, precise, and seemingly effortless, yet built on a foundation of careful observation and relentless revision.
Questions
Question 1
The passage’s depiction of Davis’s breakfast rituals serves primarily to:
A. juxtapose a Romantic ideal of intellectual and sensory engagement with a modernist critique of alienated routine.
B. illustrate the superficiality of American social customs through a satirical exaggeration of morning rituals.
C. emphasize the physiological benefits of a nutrient-rich diet on creative productivity.
D. contrast Davis’s aristocratic refinement with the vulgar habits of his contemporaries.
E. demonstrate how his culinary preferences directly informed the thematic content of his fiction.
Question 2
The narrator’s claim that Davis “held in contempt any facility that he may have had” in writing fiction most strongly implies that Davis:
A. resented the public’s assumption that his journalistic success translated seamlessly into literary achievement.
B. believed that true artistry required a rejection of all conventional stylistic techniques.
C. viewed effortless composition as a sign of artistic complacency or insufficient rigor.
D. was secretly envious of writers who could produce fiction without laborious revision.
E. considered his letters to be a lesser form of writing due to their lack of structural complexity.
Question 3
The phrase “ice-clear pictures” is most effectively interpreted as an embodiment of Davis’s:
A. commitment to an aesthetic of precision and economy, where superfluous detail is excised to reveal essential truth.
B. journalistic background, which prioritized objective description over subjective or ornamental language.
C. preference for visual storytelling over abstract or philosophical exploration.
D. belief that literature should function as a transparent window onto reality, unmediated by authorial intrusion.
E. technical mastery of imagery, achieved through a painstaking imitation of photographic realism.
Question 4
The passage’s structural movement—from breakfast to work habits to the mechanics of composition—is most analogous to:
A. a teleological argument, wherein each stage of Davis’s routine is presented as a necessary precondition for his artistic output.
B. a stream-of-consciousness narrative, mirroring the associative leaps of Davis’s own creative process.
C. a dialectical progression, in which thesis (social engagement) and antithesis (solitary labor) synthesize into a unified portrait.
D. an inductive reasoning model, using specific anecdotes to derive a general theory of literary genius.
E. a deconstructive approach, systematically dismantling the myth of effortless creativity.
Question 5
Which of the following statements about the narrator’s perspective is least supported by the passage?
A. The narrator admires Davis’s ability to balance disciplined work with spontaneous joy.
B. The narrator suggests that Davis’s revision process was more scientific than intuitive.
C. The narrator implies that Davis’s fiction was ultimately more valuable than his journalism.
D. The narrator portrays Davis’s physical restlessness as an integral part of his creative method.
E. The narrator contrasts Davis’s energetic engagement with life against a cultural backdrop of lethargy.
Solutions and Explanations
1) Correct answer: A
Why A is most correct: The passage opens with a deliberate contrast between Davis’s breakfast—a vibrant, intellectually and sensorily rich gathering—and the "sullen, dyspeptic" American norm, which connotes modern alienation (a hallmark of modernist critique). The former aligns with Romantic ideals of holistic engagement (mind, body, and art in harmony), while the latter reflects the fragmented, joyless routines of industrialized society. The question targets the implicit cultural commentary embedded in the scene, not merely its surface details.
Why the distractors are less supported:
- B: While satire is present, the focus isn’t on superficiality but on the depth of engagement Davis brings to routine. The passage doesn’t mock customs as much as it elevates an alternative.
- C: The passage never discusses physiological benefits or diet; the breakfast is a metaphor for vitality, not a nutritional case study.
- D: "Aristocratic refinement" is unsupported; Davis’s habits are energetic and democratic (laughter, thick cream), not elitist.
- E: There’s no link drawn between his culinary preferences and thematic content—the breakfast is a lifestyle metaphor, not a literary device.
2) Correct answer: C
Why C is most correct: The phrase "held in contempt any facility" suggests Davis distrusted ease in fiction writing, associating it with laziness or lack of rigor. The passage explicitly states that his fiction required "Joblike patience" and relentless elimination, implying that effortlessness equated to artistic failure in his view. This aligns with a perfectionist ethos where struggle is virtuous.
Why the distractors are less supported:
- A: While Davis might have resented assumptions about his work, the passage focuses on his internal standards, not public perception.
- B: He doesn’t reject all conventional techniques—he refines them. The passage celebrates his selective precision, not wholesale innovation.
- D: "Secret envy" is psychologically unsupported; the tone is admiring, not suggestive of hidden bitterness.
- E: The letters are called "gorgeously human," not lesser. The contrast is between genres (letters vs. fiction), not a value judgment.
3) Correct answer: A
Why A is most correct: "Ice-clear pictures" metaphorically encapsulates Davis’s aesthetic of elimination: he strips away extraneous detail to reveal a sharp, essential image. The passage describes his Herculean labor to omit all but the "fittest" phrases, resulting in prose that is both precise and evocative. This reflects a modernist-like economy (e.g., Hemingway’s iceberg theory) where less signifies more.
Why the distractors are less supported:
- B: While his journalism valued objectivity, the "ice-clear" metaphor emphasizes artistic distillation, not just reportorial detachment.
- C: The passage doesn’t prioritize visual storytelling over other modes; the clarity is conceptual, not merely optical.
- D: The "picture" is highly mediated—Davis’s authorial judgment is central, contradicting the idea of an "unmediated window."
- E: "Photographic realism" is misleading; his process is selective and interpretive, not mimetic. The goal is essence, not replication.
4) Correct answer: A
Why A is most correct: The passage logically progresses from Davis’s social vitality (breakfast) to his disciplined routine (work habits) to the culmination of his art (composition). Each stage is necessary for the next: the breakfast fuels his energy, the routine enables his focus, and the focus produces his prose. This teleological structure (purpose-driven sequence) mirrors an argument where premises lead inexorably to a conclusion.
Why the distractors are less supported:
- B: "Stream-of-consciousness" implies fragmentation or digression, but the passage is highly organized and thematic.
- C: There’s no dialectical synthesis—the stages are complementary, not opposing.
- D: It’s not inductive reasoning (specifics to general); the focus is on Davis’s individual process, not a theory of genius.
- E: While it demystifies creativity, it doesn’t deconstruct it—there’s no undermining of meaning, just an exposition of labor.
5) Correct answer: D
Why D is least supported: The narrator never portrays Davis’s restlessness as integral—it’s a colorful detail ("he wrote sitting down, standing up, walking up and down") but not a causal or thematic cornerstone. The passage emphasizes his mental rigor and discipline, not physical movement as a creative method.
Why the other options are supported:
- A: The breakfast scene explicitly shows his balance of joy (laughter) and discipline (no dawdling).
- B: The "elimination process" is described as systematic and interrogative ("Does the picture remain?"), suggesting a scientific approach.
- C: The narrator elevates his fiction as the product of Herculean labor, implying higher value than his effortless letters.
- E: The "sullen, dyspeptic" Americans are directly contrasted with Davis’s vibrant engagement, critiquing cultural lethargy.