Customer Reviews

The Jameses: A Family Narrative

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This wonderful book tells the story of where the James family and its money came from, how Henry Sr. almost lost his inheritance for the frivolity of buying too many books, then reclaimed it and used it to raise the most remarkable intellectual family yet in American history. The book is big, which gives it enough space to delve into the tragedy of the two younger James brothers, the maturation of William and Henry Jr., and the closeted life of Alice.

I came away with a new respect for the somewhat eccentric Henry Sr., with his diverse interests in educational philosophy, Swedenborg, and Emerson. He is the under-sung hero of this narrative and its true author.

Perhaps I enjoyed the book most of all because it allowed me to feel almost a part of the family, to live what to me is a fantasy. If you feel yourself a kindred spirit to William, Henry, Jr., or Sr., or Alice, I would heartily recommend this book.

The Jameses is an impressive brick of a book with 586 pages of small type, many illustrations, and two appendices. I read in the New York Times review of the book that it took Lewis 10 years to write, and I absolutely believe that to be true. He is often clearly speaking to the James scholars, making detailed reference to earlier works and apparently contentious issues. (What was the nature of the mysterious injury? etc.) I often felt inadequate to the task of reading it, given that I am very far from being a James scholar. Although I enjoyed the book, it was sometimes a bit like a little kid being an eavesdropper on a grown-up conversation.

This is not to say that I got nothing out of the book. I learned a lot about not only the family, but the time in which they lived and worked. I was actually a little bit surprised that I had not accumulated more knowledge about them before now. One of the few periods in literature that I have actually studied with consistency and application is the American Transcendentalists. The ties that James Sr. had to Emerson and Fuller (to name a few) should have brought him across my conscious radar a little bit sooner than this.

I initially wasn't sure how I was going to like the fact that Lewis took on the whole family. I was, after all, really only interested in Henry. But after reading it, I am not sure how any of them could have been addressed separately. Part of the point that Lewis makes are the threads and patterns that run through the family history-- mysticism & spirituality, the relationship (love/hate) with Europe, the relationship to money, depression and frustration. Those patterns are much stronger seeing how they play out in the lives of all the children, rather than looking at them one at a time.

This was a literary biography, and while I loved it, the minutae may be too much for a casual reader. It has certainly inspired me to circle back and see what books of the James' canon I have missed. I realize that while I have read all of the "major" works, I have read virtually nothing from his early period or of the novellas.

Interesting, if you're interested. I would recommend it. It appears to be out of print at the moment, but rather widely available.

I found this a valuable resource as an introduction to the Jameses, mainly Henry and William. I just reread "Portrait of a Lady," finding great supporting sections very well indexed. Just enough material to support first readings of William's "Introductory Lectures" and "Varieties of Religious Experience." Cozily readable as biographical narrative. A treasure.