I wish I'd written this a little earlier because I had a few wisps of thought that have now escaped me, but suffice to say I really enjoyed the book. I already was a fan of Henry James and so I really enjoyed getting to know more about him. Though I think too cute to be the title of the book, I couldn't help but think of this as "The Portrait of a Gentleman", especially in the parallel drawn between the, in the end, repressed desires of Isabel Archer and James himself, and also of their choices to remain in the status quo of the world they had created for themselves even if it left them somewhat unhappy or unfulfilled.
Tóibín did a great job of paying homage to James' style and overall I think it was excellently written. However, in researching a bit afterwards, I did discover that James wasn't quite as standoffish as he may have appeared in the book (though, it's only a matter of degrees really). For instance, I seem to recall James' relationship with the young sculptor Andersen seeming very hesitant, including James' longing that he seemingly never dares to openly discuss with Andersen. But in doing the bare minimum by reading
Andersen's wikipedia page, that appears not to be the case. James apparently kept up a quite frank emotional written correspondence with Andersen, such as:
Quote:
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“The sense that I can’t help you, see you, talk to you, touch you, hold you close & long, or do anything to make you rest on my, & feel my deep participation – this torments me, dearest boy, makes my ache for you, & for myself; makes me gnash my teeth & groan at the bitterness of things. . . . This is the one thought that relieves me about you a little - & I wish you might fix your eyes on it for the idea, just, of the possibility. I am in town for a few weeks, but return to Rye April 1st, & sooner or later to have you there & do for you, to put my arm round you & make you lean on me as on a brother & a lover, & keep you on & on, slowly comforted or at least relieved of the bitterness of pain – this I try to imagine as thinkable, attainable, not wholly out of the question.’’
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Though this letter was written in 1902, after the book's conclusion and after Andersen's brother's death, it was representative of the type of correspondence they regularly had. This leads me to believe that their relationship was at times loving, physical and gratifying, or at the very least openly discussed between the two, while the book makes it seem like it was (another) source of rather unfulfilled yearning and hidden desires on James' part.
Regardless, I still found the book...masterly.
