{"id":"01KG8AMXVFM6PAZVZE6R52K612","cid":"bafkreiazavkpffwhfvzokf2j7zs5hfb3lgydycrtlauhkjoh537i2bt7nm","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":11393,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:52.924Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","start_line":11339,"text":"Though the sweetest-tempered youth in the world when but decently\r\ntreated, Pierre had an ugly devil in him sometimes, very apt to be\r\nevoked by the personal profaneness of gentlemen of the Captain Kidd\r\nschool of literature. \"Look you, my good fellow,\" said he, submitting to\r\nhis impartial inspection a determinately double fist,--\"drop my arm\r\nnow--or I'll drop you. To the devil with you and your Daguerreotype!\"\r\n\r\nThis incident, suggestive as it was at the time, in the sequel had a\r\nsurprising effect upon Pierre. For he considered with what infinite\r\nreadiness now, the most faithful portrait of any one could be taken by\r\nthe Daguerreotype, whereas in former times a faithful portrait was only\r\nwithin the power of the moneyed, or mental aristocrats of the earth. How\r\nnatural then the inference, that instead, as in old times, immortalizing\r\na genius, a portrait now only _dayalized_ a dunce. Besides, when every\r\nbody has his portrait published, true distinction lies in not having\r\nyours published at all. For if you are published along with Tom, Dick,\r\nand Harry, and wear a coat of their cut, how then are you distinct from\r\nTom, Dick, and Harry? Therefore, even so miserable a motive as downright\r\npersonal vanity helped to operate in this matter with Pierre.\r\n\r\nSome zealous lovers of the general literature of the age, as well as\r\ndeclared devotees to his own great genius, frequently petitioned him for\r\nthe materials wherewith to frame his biography. They assured him, that\r\nlife of all things was most insecure. He might feel many years in him\r\nyet; time might go lightly by him; but in any sudden and fatal sickness,\r\nhow would his last hours be embittered by the thought, that he was about\r\nto depart forever, leaving the world utterly unprovided with the\r\nknowledge of what were the precise texture and hue of the first trowsers\r\nhe wore. These representations did certainly touch him in a very tender\r\nspot, not previously unknown to the schoolmaster. But when Pierre\r\nconsidered, that owing to his extreme youth, his own recollections of\r\nthe past soon merged into all manner of half-memories and a general\r\nvagueness, he could not find it in his conscience to present such\r\nmaterials to the impatient biographers, especially as his chief\r\nverifying authority in these matters of his past career, was now\r\neternally departed beyond all human appeal. His excellent nurse Clarissa\r\nhad been dead four years and more. In vain a young literary friend, the\r\nwell-known author of two Indexes and one Epic, to whom the subject\r\nhappened to be mentioned, warmly espoused the cause of the distressed\r\nbiographers; saying that however unpleasant, one must needs pay the\r\npenalty of celebrity; it was no use to stand back; and concluded by\r\ntaking from the crown of his hat the proof-sheets of his own biography,\r\nwhich, with the most thoughtful consideration for the masses, was\r\nshortly to be published in the pamphlet form, price only a shilling.\r\n\r\nIt only the more bewildered and pained him, when still other and less\r\ndelicate applicants sent him their regularly printed\r\n_Biographico-Solicito Circulars_, with his name written in ink; begging\r\nhim to honor them and the world with a neat draft of his life, including\r\ncriticisms on his own writings; the printed circular indiscriminately\r\nprotesting, that undoubtedly he knew more of his own life than any other\r\nliving man; and that only he who had put together the great works of\r\nGlendinning could be fully qualified thoroughly to analyze them, and\r\ncast the ultimate judgment upon their remarkable construction.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJTDSB3ER53PCEAPSR7B2","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JSYKSGCE149MH9HF6A","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMXVFGM1HRPHJC51TAEXW","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AMXVBMRAAHPB5S4PNKRTD","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:53.103Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:27.924Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}