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Henry James: The Mature Master

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The Road to Understanding Henry James

Here is a book for those of you have struggled, as I have, to understand what Henry James was up to in his novels. Sheldon Novick, in this deeply penetrating, beautifully written biography takes us behind the scenes to walk with, and think with, one of literature's most imaginative, most innovative, and most complex artists. In fact, Novick skillfully builds on the images of theatrical and pictorial artistry to take us on a revealing tour of James's subtle craftsmanship, of his keenly felt power of individual consciousness in our perception of reality, of his sense of responsibility toward his siblings and friends, and of his far-reaching relationships with an international circle of artists, political leaders, and social thinkers in America and Europe. We are observers at a play, watching James micromanage everything -- as he did in London during his years as a playwright. In a sense we are part of the drama in James's books, since the action, and its psychological revelations, come to life only when our imagination fuses with that of the novelist. His novels portray conflicts, innuendos, deceits, bravery, contradictions, and compulsions in an intricate, cohesive dialogue rather than in a vivid, straightforward description. Novick introduces us to the novelist's studio, and to the novelist's mind, in this way: "James is seated with his back toward us, at an easel," Novick tells us. "The model lounges on her couch, on a little platform, facing us, and we see that the painter has sketched the outlines of her figure on the canvas . . . . We imagine ourselves sitting where the painter sits, the remarkable beauty of the model's nude flesh mysteriously illuminating the experience."

In this striking image, Novick highlights the projection of James' imagination, which resonates with our own imagination. "The cumulative effect is not exactly visual," Novick advises us. "It is the picture of a living mind feeling its way into simplest and greatest truths, which the reader is led to discover or recall for herself. . . . James prompts us to use a sense that combines intelligence and emotion, that allows us to imagine each other's experience and to enact in imagination the bare descriptions that we read, as if they were stage directions; he is the artist of empathy."

For the reader, James also can be the artist of confusion and frustration as he tampers with language to transfer, to our minds, the germ of what he himself imagines, but chooses to convey obliquely, in part to address our emotions as well as our intellect, and perhaps to spur our own powers of self-discovery. This technique, maturing in his late novels and stories, can be effective, but it also can be downright addling to readers who spin out on the slippery surface of Jamesian grammar. "Over the years," Novick relates, "ordinary nouns and verbs would slowly drop from his writing. . . . A cloud of descriptive nouns, adverbs, and adjectives would surround the pronoun like a skein of metaphors -- coalescing in the reader's eye. The scene itself then seemed to appear magically, as if illuminated and framed by a proscenium."

Not even Novick's considerable eloquence and persuasion can make readers, like me, experience this magic every time, or even enjoy merging with James's imagination when we do. As a reader, I suspect that James is quite aware of how we are affected -- and disaffected -- as we trace the luxuriant, indirect trail that he lays out for us, pushing our way through luscious, ingenious, fantastic groves of unpruned words. To sympathize with us -- as he seems to in The Bostonians, for example -- James occasionally lightens the heavy going with sprigs of ironic humor. But the real satisfaction is understanding James's imaginative, intellectual intent -- which I finally did, with some pleasure, when reading The Bostonians, but only after taking Novick's well-cultured tour of the Jamesian mind.

Novick's memorable tour leads us seamlessly through the literary, social, sociological, political, and historical setting in which James lived, and by which he was profoundly influenced in his outlook and professional work. We enter the scenery hearing muffled, offstage drumbeats -- the calls to Civil War in America, a wrenching conflict of wills in which two of James's brothers fought and were wounded. At the tour's end, we leave the scenery hearing the drums of World War I, a ghastly fulfillment of misguided political will during which, living in London, James died of congestive heart failure. He was honored in England by the Order of Merit, but alienated toward his own country by its resistance to entering into muddy, bloody trench warfare in the name of Anglo-American solidarity, a condition of mutual regard for which James, although "not intimate with political men," vigorously and unfalteringly promoted as a private ambassador.

Novick's fine new biography (which was preceded by The Young Master, about James's earlier life) has an intriguing history of its own. Before Novick's two books, the dominant account of James's life, completed in 1972, was Leon Edel's five-volume biography. In that work, James emerges as a somewhat bloodless man of little passion or courage. In The Mature Master, Novick, in the light of extensive new scholarship, frees James from the constraints of outdated analysis, and brings him to life as "the active, passionate, engaged man his contemporaries knew."

Julian McCaull

As a lover of the fiction of Henry James, I recommend this book highly. It gives insight into not only this remarkable man of letters, but also the time he lived in and how he was engaged in that time. I learned about his political views, the nature of his friendships, his difficulties with money and health, but mostly I felt from Novick an enormous sympathy for James'unique voice. I quote:
"His medium was the solitary imagination, but his subject was his passionate understanding, "love's knowledge" in Martha Nussbaum's precise phrase, of the strong forces that draw people together, despite all jealousies and violence. James prompts us to use a sense that combines intelligence and emotion,that allows us to imagine each other's experience and to enact in imagination the bare descriptions that we read, as if they were stage directions; he is the artist of empathy."

For over 40 years, the 5 volume biography by Leon Edel has been the gold standard for those interested in Henry James. Novick believes he has outdistanced Edel, primarily by rushing to convince us that James acted out his homosexual leanings with, among others, Oliver Wendall Holmes, later a U S Supreme Court Judge.
His evidence is flimsy,and very speculative. His conclusions seem more designed to sell his books, than advance James scholarship. Edel doesn't deny the homoerotic content of some of James personal letters, stories, relationships. Edel simply says that based on the known facts, no definitive conclusion is possible. Novick is passionate in his attacks on Edel, and in defense of his own scholarship. If you want to observe how literary folks can argue like cats and dogs, buy Edel, AND Novick, AND Fred Kaplan, then review the exchange of letters between all three on SLATE, and take a look at Millicent Bell writing in the Times Literary Supplement, December 6, 1996. If nothing else, its a great literary knife fight. However, with the exception of Bell, all the players want to use a Quasi - Pseudo - Freudian hammer to mold Henry James to their point of view. Ugh! Better to buy some of the new collected editions of the James' short stories, or re-read Portrait of a Lady. The NEW gold standard biography of James has yet to be written.Henry James: The Mature Master

Henry James was born in New York City in 1843. James and his older brother the Harvard philosopher William were geniuses. Their only sister Alice who died young was a talented diarist. Their other two brothers lived hard and difficult lives. Henry James Sr was an eccentric philosopher who had trouble making a living. The James family traveled widely in Europe spending time in Paris and London.
This second volume of the life of James begins with his success in 1881 of the first novel of his maturity: The Portrait of a Lady." Prior to his death from heart disease in 1916 the great author would produce such masterpieces as: "The Ambassadors,"; "The Golden Bowl,"The Wings of the Dove,"; "What Maisie Knew" and "The Turn of the Screw." James was a prolific author turning out long novels, short stories, reviews and nonfiction travel and journalistic articles.
Henry James was a homosexual who had several affairs with many young men during his long life. James spent his year in such locales as Venice, Rome, Paris and London. He bought a home in Rye in Sussex where he lived from the 1890s until his death in the midst of World War I. James became a British citizen shortly before his death to cement his solidarity with the British in the war and as a criticism of American neutrality under the Wilson administration.
James had many female friends such as Mrs. Humphrey Ward and Edith Wharton his fellow novelists. He sometimes had trouble with bills but lived a basically well to do existence earning his living by the pen. He attended one semester at Harvard Law School and earned several honorary degrees.
Novick has had access to thousands of James letters. Unlike Leon Edel, Novick is not reticent in discussing the author's love life; quest for fame and fortune. Novick's two volume opus has replaced the five volume Leon Edel biography as drawing a more complete picture of Henry James and his brilliant family.
Henry James' later works are written in a very difficult style. He probes the secrets of the human mind and heart. James is a painter of human consciousness viewing a story through the lens of his character's eyes. James is influenced by European masters such as Balzac and Zola. He closely examines the transalatic conflict of cultures between the young United States and the old Europe of art and traditon. James had a love-hate relationship with America and Americans. He was often perceived as cold but was also a good friend to many folks needing his counsel and strength. Henry James is not everyone's cup of tea but to discerning readers he is well worthy of concentrated attention.
Sheldon Novick has produced one of the best biographies of a major American writer ever written.