Charlotte’s allowances for ‘novices in literature’ showed that she still had reservations about Monsieur Heger’s method of teaching by imitation. Having found the courage to question this, she now launched into an explicit defence of her position, that genius was innate and inspirational. I believe that genius … has no need to seek out details, that it never pauses for reflection, that it does not think about unity: I believe that details come naturally without the poet having to seek them, that inspiration takes the place of reflection and as for unity, I think that there is no unity more
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