Henry James by William Faulkner
Evelyn
describes Henry James as "one of the nicest old ladies I ever met". I
doubt I'll be able to read James anymore without thinking of this
opinion, and thought I might as well inflict it on the rest of the
group. It does throw an interesting new light on "The Friends of the
Friends".
Evelyn (with apologies to Mr. James and his fans)
blackfrancis
"Evelyn" <unca...@bellatlantic.net> wrote in message
news:4cec8860.01091...@posting.google.com...
> I've just read a quote attributed to William Faulkner in which he
> describes Henry James as "one of the nicest old ladies I ever met".
Rolling with laughter!!!!
-bf
Jim Rockhill
If you find that comment interesting, you should look up the chapter
on Henry James in H. G. Wells' "novel" BOON (1915). The portrait of
the author chasing his characters about with a butterfly net is as
hilarious as it caustic. Wells' epistolary friendship with James
suffered accordingly.
Jim
Adam Walter
Thanks, Evelyn. I've been trying to read James lately and have found
him so stilted and dry that I really needed that laugh.
~Adam
Randy Money
I've found with H.J. that it may depend on what you read. I found _The
Bostonians_ rather drily amusing, found _Daisy Miller_ interesting
though the ending somewhat flawed, hated the snobbishness I thought I
saw in _The Spoils of Poynton_, get annoyed by the lengthy breathless
sentences in "Turn of the Screw," but am mesmerized by the story anyway.
I've liked most of the short stories I've read: "Beast in the Jungle",
"The Jolly Corner", and "Sir Edmund Orme" stand out in my memory. (That
latter I probably like mostly because its structure cuts closer to the
surface than with most James stories. I believe it's an early story.)
I've so far managed to fend off any urge to read his luxury-sized
novels.
Randy M.
Jim Rockhill
I agree with you, Randy. Much of James' work, such as "The Pupil,"
"The Jolly Corner," "The Beast in the Jungle," "The Real Thing," "Sir
Edmund Orme" and DAISY MILLER, just naming those that come immediately
to mind, is excellent. However, much of his late work, even the best
of it, is so full of the most affected of subordinate clauses and the
most delicate of insinuations that it becomes not only a chore to
read, but very difficult to take seriously. I love THE TURN OF THE
SCREW and reread it about every 5 years or so, but even this work has
passages that numb the mind. There is one particular statement by
Miles shortly after he has been expelled from school that is so
unbelievably tortuous and pretentious that I cannot imagine any child
saying it. I will have to try to locate it.
Even the late letters fall into this trap. I recall one he wrote to
his brother William about Vernon Lee's work in which there appears a
passage reading (from memory, but I swear to you that this is NOT an
exaggeration):
"It is, her style, of the most offensive."
It is, that sentence, ridiculous. How ironic that James could use such
a stilted syntax to denigrate someone else's use of language.
Jim
Burl Veneer
"'I admire work that is neither one thing nor the other, really. All
the things you can talk about in anyone's work are the things that are
least important. It's like the ballet. You can describe all the
externals of a performance--everything, in fact, but what really
constitutes its core. Explaining something makes it go away, so to
speak; what's important is what's left after you have explained
everything else. Ideally, if anything were good, it would be
indescribably. What's the core of Mozart or of Balanchine? That's
why I think Henry James is nonexistent. The longer he goes on, the
more he explains, there is nothing left.'"
"Over the years Gorey and I found mirthful the names of many of the
characters that have appeared in various Henry James's stories, names
like Fleda vetch, Weeks Wimbush, Mildred Theory, Gwendolyn Ambient,
Bessie Mangler, Amy Frush, Rosanna Gaw, and Lady Augusta Minch. There
is even a furnished apartment in a James's story, "In the Cage," that
is named Thrupp! (Gorey was convinced, incidentally, that the name
Meryl Streep was actually a Jamesian invention!)"
[both "James's" sic]
"'Henry James--one of the worst writers. Oh, abominable, don't you
agree? He went downhill when he started all that dictation.' Gorey
splayed out in his chair, moaned, and looked up. 'I've read virtually
everything he's written.'"
Quoted from THE STRANGE CASE OF EDWARD GOREY
Bill B.
Jim Rockhill
This is wonderful, Bill! I needed a good laugh.
Jim
Susan Cline
blackfrancis
"Susan Cline" <su...@cleanfiction.com> wrote in message
news:3BB342C2...@cleanfiction.com...
Hi Susan! Thanks for reposting this. It STILL gives me a little snicker
especially when I think of the picture of James in PENGUIN and read the
quote. Is that pound of make-up making his face look like that?!?! He he! It
reminds me to say that I thought "The Friends of the Friends" a difficult
and slow tale. Am I suppose to like one???
-bf