GERMINAL IDEA. “It is so long since I wrote ‘The Sacrificial Altar’
that I am rather hazy. My impression is that I set out to draw a born
artist hampered by certain disabilities, and one of these being a
disinclination for life and utter absence of the love instinct, all
the forces of his nature concentrated upon his art, until they reached
the point of obsession. It was not until after he had written the last
book that he reacted to the normal instincts he had inherited and which
had been automatically developed by the most normal bourgeoisie on
earth.”--_Gertrude Atherton._