How we cite our quotes: (Part.Section.Paragraph)
Quote #1
I have already by implication described this 'reportage' as a work of art. I do not of course by this mean a work of fantasy. All art deals with the absurd and aims at the simple. Good art speaks truth, indeed is truth, perhaps the only truth. I have endeavoured in what follows to be wisely artful and artfully wise, and to tell truth as I understand it, not only concerning the superficial and 'exciting' aspects of this drama, but also concerning what lies deeper. (Bradley Pearson's Foreword: par. 1)
Is Bradley Pearson's claim to have told the truth as he understands it enough to make you trust his version of events, or does it make you want to read his story with an extra grain of salt?
Quote #2
The elementary need to render a truthful account of what has been so universally falsified and misrepresented is the ordinary motive for this enterprise: and to tell of a wonder which has thus far remained secret. (Bradley Pearson's Foreword: par. 4)
What "wonder" is Bradley Pearson referring to in this passage, and why (in your opinion) has he chosen to reveal it?
Quote #3
[…] Francis belongs to that sad crew of semi-educated theorizers who prefer any general blunted 'symbolic' explanation to the horror of confronting a unique human history. Francis wanted to 'explain' me. In my moment of fame, a number of other and much cleverer people attempted this also. But any human person is infinitely more complex than this type of explanation. By 'infinitely' (or should I say 'almost infinitely'? Alas I am no philosopher) I mean that there are not only more details, but more kinds of details with more kinds of relations than these diminishers can dream of. (Bradley Pearson's Foreword: par. 7)
This won't be the last time that Bradley Pearson's words in The Black Prince echo lines from Shakespeare's Hamlet. Here, as Bradley comments on the nuance that's needed in order to represent human nature truthfully, he echoes Prince Hamlet's remark that "There are more things in heaven and earth […] / than are dreamt of in our philosophy" (Act 1, Scene 5).
Quote #4
As I now read this Foreword through I can see how meagerly it conveys me. How little perhaps can words convey except in the hands of a genius. (Bradley Pearson's Foreword: par. 15)
Since Bradley Pearson seems to believe that it's impossible to interpret and convey the full intricacy and complexity of human nature, human personalities, and human consciousness, his words in this passage seem pretty self-serving, despite the fact that they also appear to be humble and self-deprecating. After all, if Bradley intends to say something about the deep complexity of individual human beings, it stands to reason that his words would fail to convey that properly.
Quote #5
The most important thing a writer must learn to do is to tear up what he has written. Art is concerned not just primarily but absolutely with truth. It is another name for truth. The artist is learning a special language in which to reveal truth. If you write, write from the heart, yet carefully, objectively. Never pose. Write little things which you think are true. Then you may sometimes find that they are beautiful as well. (1.5.17)
In the first letter to Julian Baffin that Bradley Pearson writes in The Black Prince, Bradley equates art and truth. If we think of Bradley's story as an attempt to reveal truth, what specific truth would you say is his major concern? The truth about Arnold Baffin's death? The truth about his love for Julian? The true nature of artistic creation? Something else?
Quote #6
Oh, everything's changed so since even a little while ago. We can live in the open, there's nothing to be secretive about. I feel free, I've been set free, like Julian's balloon, I'm sailing up above the world and looking down at it at last, it's like a mystical experience. We don't have to keep secrets. Arnold has somehow forged a new situation. I shall have friends at last, real friends, I shall go about the world, I shall have you. And Arnold will accept it, he'll have to, he might even learn humility, Bradley, he's our slave. I've got my will back at last. We've become gods. Don't you see? (1.16.101)
For a short while in "The Black Prince," Rachel Baffin seems to believe that she can carry on an extramarital affair honestly, truthfully, and out in the open, without it causing any difficulties between herself and her husband. As she soon discovers, this isn't really the case.
Quote #7
It then came to me: but is Arnold lying? He could well be lying about Christian. Was he also lying about Rachel? What had passed between Arnold and his wife and would I ever know it for certain? (1.19.79)
Throughout The Black Prince, Bradley Pearson represents Arnold Baffin as being quite capable of lying whenever the situation suits him. In what specific instances is Bradley sure that Arnold is lying to him?
Quote #8
Ever since that day when Arnold telephoned you and you came over, I feel you've been somehow in the dark, not understanding anything, under all sorts of misapprehensions. I daresay my attempts to help you didn't really help at all. And I did want to help you. I know you have strong emotional needs, I know you're a very lonely person, maybe I shouldn't have meddled. But I felt I could meddle simply because my own position was so strong. That I was alright was the assumption I stupidly thought you shared. I mean, I thought you understood how united I am with Arnold and how happy we really are. (3.13.127)
In Bradley Pearson's version of events, Rachel Baffin is just as untrustworthy as her husband, Arnold. Not only is she capable of lying to him, but she may also be capable of deluding herself into believing gross untruths. What's your take on this, Shmoopers? Do you see Rachel as a bold-faced liar or as a deluded person? Or, alternatively, do you tend to trust the things she says?
Quote #9
Of course he turns everything topsy-turvy in his account of his relations with our family. He says rather coyly that we needed him. The truth was that he needed us and was a sort of parasite, an awful nuisance sometimes. He was very lonely and we all felt sorry for him. […] His claim to have 'discovered' my husband is ridiculous [sic]. My husband was already quite famous when BP after much begging, persuaded an editor to let him review one of my husband's books, and after that he made himself known to us and became, as I think my daughter once put it, 'the family pussy cat.' (Postscript by Rachel: par. 7)
If The Black Prince were a work of nonfiction, it wouldn't be all that hard to check the veracity of Rachel Baffin's version of events. All you would have to do is locate the first review that Bradley Pearson ever published of one of Arnold Baffin's novels and check to see whether that review confirms Bradley's version of events or Rachel's. No sweat. Problem is, The Black Prince isn't nonfiction, so we have no way of knowing if it's Bradley or Rachel who's telling the truth.
Quote #10
Mr. Loxias who has read the above tells me I have not said whether I endorse Pearson or my mother. I have not seen or communicated with either for several years. Naturally I endorse (roughly) what my mother says. However what Pearson has to say is true in its way. (Postscript by Julian: par. 14)
Unfortunately for us (or fortunately, depending on your point of view), Julian Baffin is no help at all when it comes to telling us whether we should trust Bradley Pearson or Rachel Baffin. They can't both be telling the truth, so which is it, Julian?