My old friend Carl McGarrigle's second novel "The Talents 2: Fugitives and Pioneers". An excellent fantasy novel in which I feature as a character
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Originally posted by Jonathan View PostMy old friend Carl McGarrigle's second novel "The Talents 2: Fugitives and Pioneers". An excellent fantasy novel in which I feature as a characterIt isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.
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Hi, vinteuil, if you think The Aspern Papers is funny, what about the Spoils of Poynton? If you haven't read it you've a treat in store. It's the reply to anyone who thinks old H.J. was a dry stick.
I still enjoy the old American film of the Aspern Papers, called, I think, the Lost Moment. It comes up on TPTV (channel 82) occasionally.
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Originally posted by smittims View PostHi, vinteuil, if you think The Aspern Papers is funny, what about the Spoils of Poynton?
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Originally posted by vinteuil View Post... I love The Spoils of Poynton. Of course it's left to the discerning reader to ponder whether Mrs Gereth's treasures are really as wonderful as she thinks them to be - or whether they are in their own way just as hideous as how she perceives Waterbath and everything connected with the Brigstocks to be. Are they aesthetically a reflection of Mrs Gereth's questionable 'take' on others? Surely we can expect Henry James to have a moral feeling about this. I have changed my mind on this several times over the years...
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Originally posted by Ein Heldenleben View PostWhat do you make of The Sacred Fount ?
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Originally posted by vinteuil View Post... I think I remain as baffled by it as most readers seem to be! All that effort (not least on the part of the poor reader trying to work out what's going on) - and all - to what end? Does it have a 'deep meaning' for you? Or is it just a laboured jeu d' esprit?
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Originally posted by Ein Heldenleben View PostI’ve only got the Tragic Muse and Roderick Hudson left to read and I think I’ve done the lot.
And then of course there's A Small Boy and Others, Notes of a Son and Brother, The Middle Years. And the travel writing, the literary criticism, the journalism. And William Wetmore Story and His Friends. The Plays (!). The Notebooks, and the Letters (in their various and variously inadequate editions). Truly the life of a James obsessive has no end...
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I've been reading Henry James for fifty years and I've never read any of those mentioned in the last post. I re-read my old favourites, but have recently taken on 'The American' and 'The Other House' after being intrigued by its use in Jaques Rivette's film*.
I'm approaching the end of 'Jacob's Room'. I intended to re-read Virginia Woolf every ten years but I think I missed a decade. I delight in disagreeing with the serious lit-crits about which are her better books , 'The Years' being one of my favourites. I think this time I will have to read 'Orlando' , though it's on my list of books I wouldn't want to be seen reading.
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* 'Celine and Julie Go Boating'.
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Originally posted by smittims View PostI've been reading Henry James for fifty years and I've never read any of those mentioned in the last post. I re-read my old favourites, but have recently taken on 'The American' and 'The Other House' after being intrigued by its use in Jaques Rivette's film*.
* 'Celine and Julie Go Boating'.
... Céline and Julie Go Boating one of my all-time favourite films. Loosely (very loosely... ) based on James's The Other House and also his The Romance of Certain Old Clothes -
The complete James obsessive will naturally also have on the shelves his translation of Alphonse Daudet's Port Tarascon · the last adventures of the illustrious Tartarin...
(... that's enough obsessive Jamesiana [ed].).
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Originally posted by vinteuil View Post... Roderick Hudson is fun; I wish you joy of The Tragic Muse...
And then of course there's A Small Boy and Others, Notes of a Son and Brother, The Middle Years. And the travel writing, the literary criticism, the journalism. And William Wetmore Story and His Friends. The Plays (!). The Notebooks, and the Letters (in their various and variously inadequate editions). Truly the life of a James obsessive has no end...
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I forgot I read Guy Domville after reading Author, Author . Oh dear …
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Originally posted by Ein Heldenleben View PostI did finish PC - it just struck me that Conrad handled similar themes so much better in The Secret Agent.
"And the incorruptible Professor walked, too, averting his eyes from the odious multitude of mankind. He had no future. He disdained it. He was a force. His thoughts caressed the images of ruin and destruction. He walked frail, insignificant, shabby, miserable--and terrible in the simplicity of his idea calling madness and despair to the regeneration of the world. Nobody looked at him. He passed on unsuspected and deadly, like a pest in the street full of men."
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Originally posted by vinteuil View Post... Yes! so much better. And that final paragraph -
"And the incorruptible Professor walked, too, averting his eyes from the odious multitude of mankind. He had no future. He disdained it. He was a force. His thoughts caressed the images of ruin and destruction. He walked frail, insignificant, shabby, miserable--and terrible in the simplicity of his idea calling madness and despair to the regeneration of the world. Nobody looked at him. He passed on unsuspected and deadly, like a pest in the street full of men."
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