Henry James

[Conchis]

... I was in my late thirties when I thought I ought to get in to reading Henry James. With the arrogance of youth I thought -" here's me, brainy type, well-eddicated - why not plunge straight in to The Golden Bowl. Everyone says it's unreadable, far too difficult. I'm up for it... "

Bad move. After a dozen pages I was completely floored. "What on earth is going on? Can't make head or tail... "

But I didn't give up on James. I abandoned The Golden Bowl and went back to the beginning and read (most of) the novels and (nearly all of) the stories in chronological order, progressively easing myself in to his style, - so that when I came to the last three masterpieces they were a joy to read - not 'easy', perhaps, but delicious...

Bon courage!

Having read Portrait Of A Lady (after failing to progress beyond page 30 for the best part of seventeen years), I've decided that it's best to clear the 'toughies' first. I plunged into opera with the Ring, so I'm working on that same principle.

[vinteuil]

... I've decided that it's best to clear the 'toughies' first. I plunged into opera with the Ring, so I'm working on that same principle.

... if you're up for tackling the 'toughies' - you might like to consider trying George Meredith's One of Our Conquerors. I picked up a copy in a second-hand shop for £1 - but mainly because I couldn't resist the opening sentences of the editor's intro :

"It is hardly an exaggeration to claim that One of Our Conquerors is the most difficult novel in English to read, given that Finnegans Wake remains an inevitable exception... " ... " ... with Meredith as with Joyce, the initial problem for a reader is the apparent recalcitrance of the words in yielding a meaning. It is folly to pretend that such difficulties do not exist. Meredith is notoriously the writer of a clotted, tortuous prose: ellipsis, whether in style or structure, is congenital to him, and of One of Our Conquerors he actually boasted that it provides "a strong dose of the most indigestible material." "

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000MRCLWQ

.

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=92101719&searchurl=bi%3D0%26ds%3D30%26sts%3Dt%26bx%3Doff%26sortby%3D17%26tn%3Dconquerors%26kn%3Dharris%26an%3Dmeredith%26recentlyadded%3Dall

.

[Conchis]

... if you're up for tackling the 'toughies' - you might like to consider trying George Meredith's One of Our Conquerors. I picked up a copy in a second-hand shop for £1 - but mainly because I couldn't resist the opening sentences of the editor's intro :

"It is hardly an exaggeration to claim that One of Our Conquerors is the most difficult novel in English to read, given that Finnegans Wake remains an inevitable exception... " ... " ... with Meredith as with Joyce, the initial problem for a reader is the apparent recalcitrance of the words in yielding a meaning. It is folly to pretend that such difficulties do not exist. Meredith is notoriously the writer of a clotted, tortuous prose: ellipsis, whether in style or structure, is congenital to him, and of One of Our Conquerors he actually boasted that it provides "a strong dose of the most indigestible material." "

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000MRCLWQ

.

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=92101719&searchurl=bi%3D0%26ds%3D30%26sts%3Dt%26bx%3Doff%26sortby%3D17%26tn%3Dconquerors%26kn%3Dharris%26an%3Dmeredith%26recentlyadded%3Dall

.

The copy of The Egoist that I bought in 1988 is still on the bookshelf, unread.

You can obtain Henry James' complete novels on Amazon Kindle for....nothing:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Henry-James-Complete-Collection-Classics-ebook/dp/B01JFABCSE/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1478274846&sr=1-1&keywords=henry+james

[vinteuil]

You can obtain Henry James' complete novels on Amazon Kindle for....nothing:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Henry-James...ds=henry+james

... ah, but what editions will they be? He was a notorious re-writer, and the serious James enthusiast will want to have the various earlier versions as well as his final 'New York Edition' re-writes.

Me, I still prefer the physical books. The 'American Library' books mainly give good early versions, as do recent OUP printings. The old Macmillan series is a good way to get the later 'New York Edition' versions...

[richardfinegold]

Long time since there's been a post on the R3 Forum so directly contrary to my opinions on a subject!

Let's leave it like that.

Amen

[Conchis]

Does anyone feel that James is the victim of anti-American snobbery? He became a British subject (in the end) but his outsider's analysis of British society may have made some of his readers uncomfortable. Maybe they saw him (erroneously) as a bumptious New World parvenu muscling on in their market? If so, they were in the wrong, because he beat them at their own game.

James was an early and vociferous critic of Dickens. His ripping to pieces of Our Mutual Friend is quite something to read (and the tenor of his argument is right on the money).

[Barbirollians]

Long time since there's been a post on the R3 Forum so directly contrary to my opinions on a subject!


Let's leave it like that.

Me too

[Barbirollians]

Does anyone feel that James is the victim of anti-American snobbery? He became a British subject (in the end) but his outsider's analysis of British society may have made some of his readers uncomfortable. Maybe they saw him (erroneously) as a bumptious New World parvenu muscling on in their market? If so, they were in the wrong, because he beat them at their own game.

James was an early and vociferous critic of Dickens. His ripping to pieces of Our Mutual Friend is quite something to read (and the tenor of his argument is right on the money).

Our Mutual Friend is a great novel by a human being - With the exception of What Maisie Knew all the James I have tried to read has been deathly dull and with prose of extraordinary fussiness - The Ambassadors is like being subjected to a cruel and unusual punishment .

[teamsaint]

Does anyone feel that James is the victim of anti-American snobbery? He became a British subject (in the end) but his outsider's analysis of British society may have made some of his readers uncomfortable. Maybe they saw him (erroneously) as a bumptious New World parvenu muscling on in their market? If so, they were in the wrong, because he beat them at their own game.

James was an early and vociferous critic of Dickens. His ripping to pieces of Our Mutual Friend is quite something to read (and the tenor of his argument is right on the money).

Even now the atlantic is a big piece of water to cross. There may be a wider cultural phenomenon than just snobbery?

Composers who routinely get performances in America, ( EG Christopher Rouse) struggle to get anything like as much as exposure here.
Countless successful and good UK rock bands have failed to "break" America .

[Conchis]

Our Mutual Friend is a great novel by a human being - With the exception of What Maisie Knew all the James I have tried to read has been deathly dull and with prose of extraordinary fussiness - The Ambassadors is like being subjected to a cruel and unusual punishment .

James' criticism of OMF is worth reading - he felt that Dickens was obsessed with the surface of life to the detriment of inner feeling. An interesting charge to make, if not one I'd totally agree with.

F.R. Leavis believed that James wrote the two most perfect novels in the English language - Portrait Of A Lady and The Bostonians. In the latter, you will encounter some of the finest prose ever written, as well as acute psychological insight.

[Barbirollians]

James' criticism of OMF is worth reading - he felt that Dickens was obsessed with the surface of life to the detriment of inner feeling. An interesting charge to make, if not one I'd totally agree with.

F.R. Leavis believed that James wrote the two most perfect novels in the English language - Portrait Of A Lady and The Bostonians. In the latter, you will encounter some of the finest prose ever written, as well as acute psychological insight.

I have read the James review - it has its modern equivalent in Toby Young's review of. I Daniel Blake - an over fastidious difficulty in believing in a world of which they know nothing .

[Conchis]

I have read the James review - it has its modern equivalent in Toby Young's review of. I Daniel Blake - an over fastidious difficulty in believing in a world of which they know nothing .

I'm afraid I can't make the comparison, as I've no intention of reading anything written by that waste of space.