Guide to Life and Literature of the Southwest, with a Few Observations by J. Frank (James Frank) Dobie
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page 6 of 247 (02%)
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Abbey," "Ode: Intimations of Immortality," "The Solitary
Reaper," "Expostulation and Reply," and a few other poems are more conducive to a "wise passiveness" than any native writing. There are no substitutes for nobility, beauty, and wisdom. One of the chief impediments to amplitude and intellectual freedom is provincial inbreeding. I am sorry to see writings of the Southwest substituted for noble and beautiful and wise literature to which all people everywhere are inheritors. When I began teaching "Life and Literature of the Southwest" I did not regard these writings as a substitute. To reread most of them would be boresome, though _Hamlet_, Boswell's _Johnson_, Lamb's _Essays_, and other genuine literature remain as quickening as ever. Very likely I shall not teach the course again. I am positive I shall never revise this _Guide_ again. It is in nowise a bibliography. I have made more additions to the "Range Life" chapter than to any other. I am a collector of such books. A collector is a person who gathers unto himself the worthless as well as the worthy. Since I did not make a nickel out of the original printing of the _Guide_ and hardly expect to make enough to buy a California "ranch" out of the present printing, I have added several items, with accompanying remarks, more for my own pleasure than for benefit to society. Were the listings halved, made more selective, the book might serve its purpose better. Anybody who wants to can |
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