Reading and Writing
As I prepare to start reading Henry James, and writing about his works, I wanted to post some information about how I’m planning to proceed, and what I’m planning to post. While my reading will be chronological, I’m going to make one exception, and read a short story out of order. The first story I read, and write about, will be The Figure in the Carpet. Those who are familiar with the story will understand why – for the rest of you, you’ll just have to find out on your own, either by reading the story, or by reading what I have to say about it.
For each story, novella or novel, I’ll be posting some information: the date the work was published, the number of words it contains (rounded to the nearest hundred), the number of pages in the Library of America edition, the genre (I’ll be making up some genres that I think fit the works), and links to the Library of America edition containing the work, as well as to other editions or online texts.
All of my posts about Henry’s works will contain spoilers. So if you haven’t read certain works, and don’t want to know what happens, don’t read what I’ve written. You can always come back later and search for specific works using the search box to the right, or look in the category listing, which will have links for Stories, Novellas and Novels.
I’m happy that the Library of America is giving me some support by publicizing this site to their readers. I’ve given them a free ad that you can see in the sidebar to the right. If you don’t have Henry’s stories, you should certainly get the five Library of America volumes. For only $140, you get nearly 5,000 pages of Henry’s great stories; it’s an unbeatable offer. (And, while you’re at it, you can join the Library of America to get other books by great American authors, especially the other books of Henry James’s novels, travel writings, and critical writings.)
So stay tuned for the beginning of my reading and writing project. I’m actually planning to read The Figure in the Carpet soon, and will make my first post about my reading later today. If you want to stay up-to-date, use the RSS links in the right sidebar. (If you don’t know how RSS works, there’s a good article on the BBC web site explaining it and how you can subscribe to a web site.)
Well, this could hardly be more welcome! I found you through the link in the current issue of Mac “Tidbits”. I was an English major in college many years ago and was forced to read H. James. I enjoyed most of his work, especially “The Ambassadors”, but found his style so precious that it made his work seem to be unreal to me–like beautifully-written fantasy. I also couldn’t identify with the characters (except Lambert Strether!) because so many of them were wealthy.
40 years pass…..!
And recently I picked up “The Ghostly Tails of Henry James”. Now at last I had the experience to understand those stories. “The Turn of the Screw” left me sad and disgusted at what it seemed to imply, assuming what happened wasn’t just a figment of the governess’ inexperienced imagination. “The Beast in the Jungle” made me think of George Meredith’s “The Egoist”, only James’ story does the sorry job of conveying the blindness “of those who will not see” as well as Meredith, but in much less space. That story left me shivering at the magnitude of the protagonist’s loss.
In short, it seems to me that you have to be either really smart or, if you’re not that smart, like me, you need to be somewhat old in order to see just how deep a writer James is.
Now I’m reading “The Golden Bowl” and liking it so far quite a lot, despite the vast amounts of money being deployed by some of the characters in it.
I look forward to your insights into James’ work with great anticipation.
Leonard, it’s interesting how certain authors just don’t speak to us at certain ages. I never read Henry when I was that young, so I don’t have the experience to say whether I would have understood him or not, but I’ve had that experience with other authors. (Of course, that goes in both directions; you may find something marvelous when you’re 20 only to feel that it’s trite when you’re 40.)
I think the wealth of the characters is unimportant: look at The Wings of the Dove. If you haven’t read it, it’s a love story full of evil intentions, and even if the characters were poor, it would be just as deep.
In any case, welcome; I hope you’ll stay a while.