From Publishers Weekly
The ongoing debate about Henry James's (1843-1916) sexuality finds suggestive new material in this collection of his loving letters to four young men in the later years of his life. Gunter and Jobe, two respected James scholars, present 166 letters from the 391 in existence; 95 are newly published. Noting the "significant gaps in the epistolary record of [James's] life as both a man of letters and a man of feelings" (fewer than one-third of all of James's letters have been published), the editors have selected letters for this volume that reveal "an intensity of emotion and a physicality that counterpoint James's persistent loneliness." The letters point to a complicated intimacy that James, nearing 60, fostered with these youthful admirers, friends and houseguests during his years of declining health and increasing emotional frailty. James seems to have played shifting roles within each relationship: mentor, father, brother, erotic companion, confidant. James is paternal with Hendrik Andersen, for example, but he also writes of a wish to "put my hands on you (oh, how lovingly I should lay them!)" He is nurturing to Dudley Jocelyn Persse, but also refers to their "promiscuous social exercise." His letters are replete with dazzling melodrama: to Hugh Walpole he writes, "I too, even poor ponderous & superannuated I, am leading the Life for a little, in my clumsy way & with a vocation & a genius so inferior to yours." The editors' elegant introductory remarks and helpful footnotes provide crucial context and background information not necessarily available in letters that focus on physical well-being, travel plans and social news. Culled through considerable archival legwork by the editors, these documents are essential reading for any James devotee. 11 photos.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
From the late 1890s until the end of his life in 1916, Henry James, by then a permanent expatriate resident in Lamb House, Rye, Sussex, kept up a faithful correspondence with four considerably younger men: sculptor Hendrix Andersen, British writer Hugh Walpole, fellow expatriate Howard Sturgis, and Jocelyn Persse. After Henry's beloved brother William died and his own health began to deteriorate he speaks often of the torment of shingles James maintained his elegant correspondences to alleviate his growing sense of isolation. These letters, through which a current of warm homoeroticism runs, alternately inform, encourage, flatter, praise, and, in the case of Walpole, offer harsh literary criticism. Yet they are always affectionate and frequently witty, and, while they demonstrate James's awesome mastery of his medium, they offer us a more lonely and vulnerable man than we might expect. Editors Gunter (Westminster Coll.; editor, Dear Munificent Friends: Henry James's Letters to Four Women) and Jobe (Hanover Coll.) contribute contextual annotations, chronologies, and introductions. Highly recommended for all large university libraries with extensive James holdings. Charles C. Nash, Cottey Coll., Nevada, MO
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
