Page:The Craftsmanship of Writing.djvu/121

THE AUTHOR'S PURPOSE as this: 'The effect of a great, sudden sin on a simple and joyous nature,' and thence came all the substance of The Marble Faun." As a matter of fact, The Marble Faun is a very wonderful example of close construction admirably disguised. It has all the effect of a vast canvas, a prodigality of material in character, and incident, and panoramic scene; but under examination, it reveals little by little the nice balance of all its parts, the rigid economy of its means, the fine art that has subordinated every part to a consistent development of the central idea, a conservation of the unity of purpose.

Second only in importance to having a purpose is the necessity of clothing that purpose in a suitable form. Some themes lend themselves to a variety of different treatments. A great war may give us both an epic and an opéra-bouffe, an Iliad and La Belle Helène. The sin of  [107]