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Henry James
- Thread starter graydaisy
- Start date
StillILearn
New Member
graydaisy, have you read "The Master" yet?
I've only read "The Portrait of a Lady" by him, and quite liked it. Isabel Archer got on my nerves at times, and hadn't it been for the ending I don't know if I'd have liked it as much as I did/do. About him being a genius, I think I have to read more by him, before deciding that, which I will do.
StillILearn
New Member
graydaisy said:
It's a novel -- but not a long one. I'm thoroughly enjoying it.
I'll paste a short review here:
"The Master is Colm Toibin's fictional account of five years of Henry James's life when he moved from failure to a renowned fiction writer. The novel begins with the opening, and closing, of his play Guy Domville and James's escape to Ireland to hide from his humiliation. James then comes back to London, follows Oscar Wilde's trial, acquires his retreat in Rye, and falls in love with a young sculptor in Italy. More than just chronicling the events of these years in his life, Colm Toibin bring James to life, showing how the forces that shaped his life also shaped his writing. The Master has received high praise: "an audacious, profound, and wonderfully intelligent book" (The Guardian), "a taut, well-crafted, mesmerising novel" (The Independent), and "an absorbing and often intense novel (Sunday Business Post)."
You already admire Henry James, so I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy this book.
mehastings
Active Member
I'm about two thirds of the way through The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt, and it has sparked an interest in Henry James. I'm on my way out to pick up copies of The Aspern Papers and The Wings of the Dove. So, I'm just looking to see if there is any current interest in his writing, and if anyone has read either of these.
Flor
New Member
Oh, mememe, mehastings! So excited to see that you are on your way to pick up Aspern Papers. James is probably my favorite. His restrained style coupled with the emotional world bubbling underneath each word just pleases to no end. I'll be so eager to hear what you think of the novella. He doesn't have his own thread here??? Yikes!
mehastings
Active Member
I'm really looking forward to reading it. I have to finish the book I'm working on now and then quickly finish off the library book I have. Then, I'll start it (probably Tuesday or Wednesday). The book I'm reading now talks a bit about the inspiration for the Aspern Papers, and it got me interested. Now that I have it in my hands I'm dying to start it.
mehastings
Active Member
Well, I just finished the Aspern Papers, and I really liked it. In fact, if it weren't for the two library books that came in today and my vow to read a stack of small mysteries so Mr. Mehastings can bring them to work (never to be seen again), I'd be halfway through another of his books.
My one and only complaint was my own fault. I knew what the ending was before I read the book. I should have set it aside and given myself the chance to forget. Still, in the end,
Flor,
Go for it. I think that you may find his writing more palatable now that you aren't reading it for school. I always found things easier to understand when reading them at my own leisure and for pleasure.
My one and only complaint was my own fault. I knew what the ending was before I read the book. I should have set it aside and given myself the chance to forget. Still, in the end,
I couldn't help hoping that we the reader would find out what Aspern's papers contained that caused such emotion from Miss Tina. However, it is of no surprise that James chose not to reveal considering how he felt about his own correspondence.
Flor,
did you find Tina to be as annoying as I did? It seemed like James wanted us to view her as being more than just the frumpy niave niece when she turned on the narrator. Instead, I looked at her burning of the papers as an act of cowardice, and I just couldn't get behind her.
SFG75 said:
Go for it. I think that you may find his writing more palatable now that you aren't reading it for school. I always found things easier to understand when reading them at my own leisure and for pleasure.
Flor
New Member
Re: Aspern Papers
mehastings I'm thrilled that you enjoyed Aspern. I thought in order to talk about it, I'd make a quick spin through, but got caught up in it and read it completely. It's such a complex, tense tale, and I had forgotten the almost sick feeling of being somehow enmeshed with James' narrator and the Misses Bordereau. Must type fast...
mehastings I'm thrilled that you enjoyed Aspern. I thought in order to talk about it, I'd make a quick spin through, but got caught up in it and read it completely. It's such a complex, tense tale, and I had forgotten the almost sick feeling of being somehow enmeshed with James' narrator and the Misses Bordereau. Must type fast...
Flor
New Member
In response to your impression that the papers elicited such emotion in Miss Tita, I'm thinking that Miss Tita had no emotional stake whatsoever in the papers. Her investment was in the narrator, which ties into your comments about
. Can you think of another reason that might have prompted such a vicious deed? If indeed she acted out of malice rather than grief
. In reading this, I found several levels of themes, always the case with James, where a reader or student could spend hours, hell, years, winding down the psychological spirals that James creates and leaves unexplored. Typing fast as don't want to time out...
her torching the papers
that the narrator had bolted from the house in obvious repulsion of her and of her suggestion that they marry in order to explore the papers and not violate the trust her aunt placed in her
Flor
New Member
What I find so extraordinary about this tale is the cringeable nature of each character, written with such skill as to cause me to desperately care what happens to two of them. I didn't care what happened to Juliana. She was ugly, mercenary, and lived in the past. Worse than Miss Haversham! Juliana's decrepitude just crawled all around me as I was reading this and caused me to feel toward the end of the story as though I were being suffocated. And I could almost smell her in decline. Contrast that with the bounty of the garden, the armfuls and armfuls of fragrant, summer blossoms brought to the house each day in bouquet after bouquet. It's quite a sensual tale with the background of Venice and the atmosphere there. For someone who'll probably never experience that place, it feels that I've been to a remote canal there and taken a tiny peek. James' descriptive powers are so great as to accomplish this. I did care what happened to Tita, pathetic as she was, because
. Which brings me to reach for some understanding of how James is able to keep the reader engaged and invested in the outcome for this abominable narrator. Could it be that all is fair, for some, in war, love, and art? The narrator's intent, right from the start, leaves me breathless and sickened. And hooked on the tale. What were your reactions to the narrator and his conniving? I also believe that there is a strong theme here of the unreliable narrator.
. He could be studied in this vein along with more recent narrators/protagonists such as those Ishiguro utilizes to display the falsity of memory, the shifting nature of emotion, the inability of characters to see themselves outside their delusions. Rich, rich reading for this snowy Sunday afternoon when I should have been doing so many other things!
I abhor the notion of one person using another as a means to an end
At the end, when the narrator grieves the loss of the papers, I'm thinking his grief is not singularly for the items, but as much for the happiness that he found in the garden, for his enjoyment of Miss Tita's company, for his herculean efforts to convince himself that he hadn't behaved deplorably, for truths about himself that he's unable to face
Flor
New Member
Is the Berendt book inspired by Aspern Papers? Sorry for thinking Henry lacked a thread. I was so excited that I didn't go back to read from post #1. Henry definitely had all his threads about him, didn't he?
mehastings
Active Member
It is the Berendt book, it is not, however, inspired by the Aspern Papers. Berendt visits Palazzo Barbaro, where Henry James stayed while writing The Wings of the Dove. He mentions The Aspern Papers and the gossip James based it on. It simply intrigued me.
I'm in a huge rush (just trying to catch up on the weekend's posts), so I'm not going to reply to your plot posts just yet. I hope to have more time tonight.
Heteronym
New Member
Venice seems to stimulate in writers tales of obsession, art, and obsession with art 
I found James’ novella similar to Thomas Mann’s Death In Venice, only this is a spiritual, introspective book, whereas The Aspern Papers reads like a thriller.
I’m still unsure whether James is taking the book seriously, or whether he’s just making fun of the Romantics. I mean, it’s not impossible: it’s the fin de siécle, Romanticism is becoming a parody of itself, new writers like Oscar Wilde, André Gide and Henrik Ibsen are taking over the arts. In James’ novella, the narrator is after the letters of a writer who belongs to a world about to disappear. Ironically, the narrator hardly displays any romantic traits; his cunningness, deception and callousness better resemble the spirit of the 20th century. Everything goes in the pursuit of Art, but the narrator himself seems hardly changed by it.
But perhaps I have a bit of the narrator in me too,
It’s a wonderful novella, written in beautiful, sensuous sentences. James has fame for being dense. I must disagree: this and Daisy Miller are two of the clearest books I’ve ever read in my life.
I’m now looking for suggestions: Washington Square? Portrait of a Lady? What Maisie Knew? What should I read next?
I found James’ novella similar to Thomas Mann’s Death In Venice, only this is a spiritual, introspective book, whereas The Aspern Papers reads like a thriller.
I’m still unsure whether James is taking the book seriously, or whether he’s just making fun of the Romantics. I mean, it’s not impossible: it’s the fin de siécle, Romanticism is becoming a parody of itself, new writers like Oscar Wilde, André Gide and Henrik Ibsen are taking over the arts. In James’ novella, the narrator is after the letters of a writer who belongs to a world about to disappear. Ironically, the narrator hardly displays any romantic traits; his cunningness, deception and callousness better resemble the spirit of the 20th century. Everything goes in the pursuit of Art, but the narrator himself seems hardly changed by it.
But perhaps I have a bit of the narrator in me too,
for the outcome really saddened me. I hoped he’d succeed, preferably at any cost. I just like to expect the worst, so I was hoping for a murder or two before the end of the novel, he he.
It’s a wonderful novella, written in beautiful, sensuous sentences. James has fame for being dense. I must disagree: this and Daisy Miller are two of the clearest books I’ve ever read in my life.
I’m now looking for suggestions: Washington Square? Portrait of a Lady? What Maisie Knew? What should I read next?
Flor
New Member
Heteronym, thank you for helping me to understand this novella. I didn't place the story in the context of "a world about to disappear." This makes so much sense and gives me something very substantial to think on. I think James may have been making societal observations. But where he grips me is in the psychological maelstrom his characters endure, almost without exception.
What a fascinating reflection. The narrator is impervious to the destruction and pain he has generated for Art's sake. Is that really the spirit of the 20th century? More to ponder for tonight and tomorrow. The equivalent of steak and fine wine for thought. I'm thinking that, of the three you mention, Washington Square might be your best bet for next destination. It is also filled with tension, though of a different sort. I also find him crystal clear, description that's beyond compare, weaving and telling without jumping through fancy prose hoops.