[poohbear_nc]

In my ongoing project to read all of Henry James' oeuvre in chronological order, I am also including ancillary books [biographies, criticism, etc. about Henry James].

I stumbled across a gem: 'Henry James' by Rebecca West - a chronological survey of his entire output - written by a sensitive & intelligent reader. West can craft sentences that are priceless observations or cutting descriptions of James' prose, such as,

"Purity and innocence are excellent things,but a world in which they have to be guarded by such cramping contrivances of conduct is as ridiculous as a heaven where the saints all go about with their haloes protected by mackintosh covers."


What a mental image that sentence engenders! What style!

West also offers a novel way to approach, read, and understand 'The Golden Bowl' - James' most complex foray into sentences of interminable length and innumerable relative clauses. Since this novel was dictated, not hand written, by James, West suggests: Read the novel as an extended conversation James is having with his readers - replete with asides, reflections, random thoughts, change of subjects, etc. - as would be found in any conversation of extended length.

I highly recommend this small, but weighty, book to any James enthusiast. PD ebook version available.

An aside: IMHO, the closest readers of James' canon as literature have been women: Joyce Carol Oates, Cynthia Ozick, and Rebecca West. I'm not sure about West, but both Oates and Ozick can channel James in their own writing.