What are you reading now?

[Jonathan]

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

[french frank]

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

Look out for a shell-collecting pianist?

[smittims]

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.

[vinteuil]

Hi, vinteuil, if you think The Aspern Papers is funny, what about the Spoils of Poynton?

... 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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[Ein Heldenleben]

... 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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What do you make of The Sacred Fount ?

[vinteuil]

What do you make of The Sacred Fount ?

... 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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[Ein Heldenleben]

... 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?

.

I think it’s an elaborate Jamesian joke - a wind -up really . The shaggiest of dog stories. I enjoyed reading it though. I’m a bit of a James obsessive I think I’ve read the last three novels 4 to 5 times. I’ve only got the Tragic Muse and Roderick Hudson left to read and I think I’ve done the lot.

[vinteuil]

I’ve only got the Tragic Muse and Roderick Hudson left to read and I think I’ve done the lot.

... 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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[smittims]

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.

------------------------------------------
* 'Celine and Julie Go Boating'.

[vinteuil]

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*.

* '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 -

https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/7316-cline-and-julie-go-boating-state-of-play

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].).

.

[Ein Heldenleben]

... 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...

.

I think the Princess Casamassima is the only one I’ve struggled to finish . The Tragic Muse I’ve struggled to start.

I forgot I read Guy Domville after reading Author, Author . Oh dear …

[vinteuil]

I think the Princess Casamassima is the only one I’ve struggled to finish . The Tragic Muse I’ve struggled to start.

... I think we're in the same boat. I have to confess I never got to the end of The Tragic Muse [shameface emoticon]

[Ein Heldenleben]

... I think we're in the same boat. I have to confess I never got to the end of The Tragic Muse [shameface emoticon]

I did finish PC - it just struck me that Conrad handled similar themes so much better in The Secret Agent.

[vinteuil]

I did finish PC - it just struck me that Conrad handled similar themes so much better in The Secret Agent.

... 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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[Ein Heldenleben]

... 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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Yes ..one of the most sinister figures in Conrad and that’s saying something. I don’t think James does “evil” as well.