But for the
miracle of a newspaper found on a fishing-boat I might not have even known
what on earth my correspondent was raging about. In literary circles such
as mine the new British Academy of Letters has not been extensively
advertised. In the main I agree with my correspondent's criticisms of the
list. But I must say that his ire shows a certain naivete. None but a
young and trustful man could have expected the list to be otherwise than
profoundly and utterly grotesque. A list of creative artists that did not
suffer acutely from this defect could only be compiled by creative artists
themselves. Not all, and not nearly all, creative artists would be
qualified to sit on the compiling committee, but nobody who was not a
creative artist would be qualified. The rest of the world has no sure
ground of judgment, for the true critical faculty is inseparable from the
creative. The least critical word of the most prejudiced and ignorant
creative artist is more valuable than whole volumes writ by dilettanti of
measureless refinement and erudition. I am not aware of the identity of
the persons who sat down together and compiled the pleasing preliminary
list of twenty-seven academicians, but I am perfectly certain that the
predominant among them were not original artists.
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