Life — March 23, 1899 — page 3: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Life Magazine Page 223: Literary Aspiration Satire This page satirizes aspiring writers and literary pretension. The sketch shows a man in formal attire, chin resting thoughtfully on his hand, conversing with an elegantly dressed woman. The caption presents a dialogue between "Enthusiastic Young Miss" and "Venerable Hack." The young woman expresses admiration for the man as "a real literary man" and asks how he writes. The "Venerable Hack" responds cynically that writing requires simply having "a mind suitably prepared," getting an idea, introducing it into the mind's "caches of observation," and carefully "removing a residue of clear thought"—before selling it to a publisher. The satire mocks both romantic notions of literary genius and the mechanical, mercenary nature of commercial writing.