The Quintessence of Ibsenism #222801

IN the pages which follow I have made no at tempt to tamper with the work of the bygone man of thirty-five who wrote them. I have never ad mitted the right of an elderly author to alter the work of a young author, even when the young author happens to be his former self. In the case of a work which is a mere exhibition of skill in conventional art, there may be some excuse for the delusion that the longer the artist works on it the nearer he will bring it to perfection. Yet even the victims of this delusion must see that there is_ an age limit to the process, and that though a man of forty-five may improve the work manship of a man of thirty-five, it does not follow that a man of fifty-five can do the same.