Your Daily Penguin: A Great PILE of Henry James!
Вставка
- Опубліковано 15 жов 2024
- Find me on Instagram! @stevesbookstagram
Follow me on Twitter! @stdonoghue
Fascinate me in my Inbox! st.donoghue [at] gmail!
Fund me on Patreon! patreon.com/snappp!
Flatter me on Voxer! stdonoghue!
![Henry James The Jolly Corner -- Short Story Film [w/ intro by Henry Fonda]](/img/n.gif)
Love your chats, am learning so much ... thanks Steve
I enjoy his books primarily because of his use of language. I haven't read any of them for years but remember them with appreciation.
He was a great writer ...one of the best for sure ...he used to ride his bike too
Henry James is good not because of his stories or characters, but it’s his method. You need to find out about his method to be able to understand and admire him. He’s pretty special.
Don’t worry most don’t understand or never bother too. The guy was a meticulous craftsman, a true master. Only Flaubert comes to mind when I think of extremely driven authors who fretted so much over the quality and nuances of their work.
Nonetheless he does create some very special characters. Isabel Archer is really one of the greats, as is Milly Theale.
I’ve only read short James: Turn of the Screw, Washington Square, Daisy Miller, and The Aspern Papers. I enjoyed them all and loved The Aspern Papers. I need to read more of him.
Nabokov on James "James, Henry. Dislike him rather intensely, but now and then his wording causes a kind of electric tingle. Certainly not a genius."
Great authors aren’t necessarily great critics.
In my limited experience it's all about how it's approached with James. It tracks the modulation of consciousness as it meets with the world and other consciousnesses and so we must prepare to be modulated as we read it. Just like there's a current in flowing water or a grain in wood, if you start off on the wrong foot with the wrong approach it's going to feel like a chore and you'll resent it.
Perhaps ask yourself what expectations you're bringing to James which prevent you moving with his modulations.
I think I got a couple Henry James sitting on my shelf, haven't ever read him before. You've piqued my interest, may have to pick one up here shortly.
It is interesting how dictation changed his later style. It seems he actually spoke like that as well - both Virginia Woolf and EF Benson have passages sending up his speaking style. Poor Henry. I think The Golden Bowl is just the most incredible book, but The Ambassadors does a very similar thing in a slightly more understandable fashion.
I have his complete works on Kindle. When I go on a long trip - to China - I typically end up starting one of his books. Of the later works, I like Wings of the Dove. I think his earlier work is better, especially Daisy Miller, Washington Square. I liked Princess Cassamassima very much, and also like Roderick Hudson which features the same character. And I like his earlier short stories a lot. They are available in Library of America, thus sparing me from the duplicates. That said, I much prefer Edith Wharton (and I think of them as being sort of a pair)
Yes! I’ve found your “grappling with” comment true for me with classic or acclaimed movies that I wasn’t crazy about the first time around. I’ll often hang onto those DVDs because I figure I should give them another try at some point, whereas I often don’t hold onto movies I love, unless I’m pretty sure I’ll want to rewatch them.
I was just looking at the Henry James books on my shelf and thinking about how unfashionable he is in the booktube world. I had to read The Bostonians in my first year at university and I read a couple of others including Portrait of a Lady which I really liked. But it's been at least 25 years since I read him and I'm not excited to pick him up again. I'm focusing more on Trollope these days for my Victorian fix and I still have bunch of Dickens that I haven't read yet.
I think we need to admit some Americans don't like James because he is such an Anglophile. This is a man who chose to live in England for decades. If you have the chance to visit his house in #Rye, please take it. It's one of the most beautiful towns on the entire south coast.
I was blessed to read Portrait first, which I still think is his best book. If you like movies without car chases, you will probably like James. If you need an adrenaline rush he's probably not your guy...
Fascinating. I haven't been able to get on with Henry James either. But I will try again one day.
Oh a fun fact: His brother William James had asked him to please stop writing. : )
I tried reading Portrait of a Lady in my early twenties after a friend enthused about Henry James. He had just finished grad school in English lit. Then after a few decades I picked it up, thinking it was about time to finish it. The sentences are very good but they were so rich that if I read too much I felt as if I had gorged on high fat chocolate. So it was a slow read, took many breaks. I’m glad I read this “should read”. But I concluded his novels are not for me.
So many books! Is it Henry James’s influence that we have to thank for John Updike’s passive descriptions of washing machines?
Every time I read James I think that this is what would have happened if Aristotle had tried his hand at writing novels. Even visiting the magic of Venice did not make The Wings of the Dove more interesting to read.
Hope you have a healthy weekend.
Best, Jack
A pile indeed!
I love Henry James despite the undeniable difficulty of his language. For me, Henry James is indeed very difficult to read, but the end is rewarding. I love the beauty of his language, the depth that he goes in describing his characters, and in general in his descriptions I feel that he is painting a picture with words. I do see and understand that in some sentences he is nearly completely incomprehensible, and I do think that at times he's overdoing it as if he doesn't know where to stop with the convoluted sentences; nevertheless, I still love him. Truth is, however, that I haven't read all of his works, and also I have absolutely no expertise or even near enough education to judge his work (positively or negatively) in a valid manner. I have read and loved The Portrait of a Lady and Washington Square, which are my favorite ones, Daisy Miller, The Golden Bowl (that I don't remember well, but I remember loving it), The Turn of the Screw, The Aspern Papers which I loved, and a few other stories, including one of my favorite short stories: The Beast in the Jungle. I am currently reading The Ambassadors (my second attempt as English is not my first language, but now I'm fluent). I have to admit that up to the 4th book was a struggle to understand. What I did like though was that we get to know characters that we will meet in the 4th book through Strether's perspective that I would consider unreliable, and later we get to meet them ourselves and understand more about them, but also we understand better the main character Strether and the development of his character. I'm now about half way through and from the 4th chapter on, I can hardly put the book down. He continues to be very difficult, and in some sentences I have still added question marks, but I love the book anyway. Also, I find The Ambassadors way much easier to read and understand (and the language even more beautiful) when I read it out loud.
I feel exactly the same way Louiza - i think he is a very special writer his works really get under my skin & i too *love* to read him out loud.. hypnotic at times & so beautiful.🙂
If not mistaken I have only read Turn of the Screw, Washington Square and Daisy Miller. Cannot say I enjoyed it. xD I wanted to slap people all the way through those books XD
Oh dear. Way too many HJ’s.
I loved The Portrait of a Lady and The Turn of the Screw. I enjoyed The Bostonians and Washington Square.
I also loved The Golden Bowl and The Wings of the Dove-but as tv series I saw on PBS. I’m not sure I’ve got the stamina to actually read either one of them. The plots, though, of each of them are kind of mesmerizing, in a creepy, snaky way.
For me reading Henry James is like walking through snow: it's a slog, you don't get very far very fast, it can leave you a little cold, and when you're done you wonder why you did it at all
This makes me want to read
Although I found The Golden Bowl unreadable, I've enjoyed most of the rest of HJ's works. The only larger work still waiting on the shelf is my 1948 two volume set of The Princess Casamassima published by Macmillan. I just haven't been in the mood for his writing style during the present crisis. Now, I'm itching to read a Dumas that Alan at the Book Traveler suggested. Dumas is easier on a stressed out brain!
Between Henry James and Graham Greene I think you are a bit of a contrarian book buyer with a slight case of FOMO. Also, a susceptibility for Penguins with Sargent paintings on the cover may come into play as well. (I too, really like Sargent.) I haven’t read much by James. I thought “The Wings of the Dove” was great and didn’t really care for “The Turn of the Screw” (I think a ghost may have have been involved, I don’t remember.) Good luck with the culling. I hope you feel better soon.
Can you please let me know if the Penguin editions include the original texts or the later "New York Edition" texts where James went back and made changes?
I think they are usually the NYE text, but it just depends on what the editor chooses to use. Geoffrey Moore's ed of Roderick Hudson, for example, does use an earlier version.
Original text.
I was a lit major and my profs seemed to think Henry James was an important writer. So I bought and read 12 of his novels. I liked some of his shorter & earlier novels but, like you, did not find Henry James to be all that interesting. Sadly, the ones I liked had pretty conventional plots. One day I will go back and read a couple, but I am in no rush to do so.
What’s your point? Ah, the insight on UA-cam.
Henry James is a great writer-especially, his later work.
Who has the money/power?
How can I ally myself with them? Who is attempting to steal from me?
How do women live with dignity in a world where men hold almost all the money and power?
Is love a possibility in a world clouded by hidden and distorted motives?
CHEATER