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Discover Latest #Henry James News, Articles and Videos with Contenting
June 6, 2021 Henry James is remembered as one of the greatest American authors of the 19th and early 20th centuries. His works, including The Portrait of a Lady and The Turn of the Screw, are considered to be classics of American literature. He is also known for his influential theories on the novel and his groundbreaking use of psychological realism. This page contains news, articles and videos about Henry James and his works.
Reading by Whim: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Reader – Thornfield Hall
In an essay at the TLS, Ian Sansom gently mocks bookish New Year's resolutions. Some readers bustle pompously, declaring it the Year of Proust - and perhaps getting a book out of it. But Sansom's plans to devote the year to Dickens, Henry James, or Simenon always fail. By February, he is back to reading…
On Reading Big Books Again: The Doll by Bolesław Prus |
I've been reading enormous books again---the doorstopper variety that Henry James famously labelled as "loose, baggy monsters." It's not that I had developed an aversion to large books or to reading in general but I seem to have lost interest in longer tomes in the past 3 years. I remember reading Neil Peart's book Ghost…
Summer Reading: Henry James & Maud Cairnes – Thornfield Hall
It was a gorgeous June day. We take these days when we can get them. We didn’t exert ourselves, except to make sandwiches in the kitchen, because it was 90 degrees, and all anybody wants is to sit under a tree and indulge in light reading. I almost said “sit in a tree," but I…
The Biblio-Anarchist Meets Henry James: “The Spoils of Poynton” – Thornfield Hall
I have fond memories of reading Henry James’s The Golden Bowl on the roof of a government building. The roof was a retreat, because the break room had no windows and we wanted fresh air. The guys mostly read Rolling Stone or talked about music, while I was absorbed in Henry James. It's been a…
The Daily Write – Thornfield Hall
I planned to post this at a companion blog, The Daily Write, but decided to integrate these "journal" posts with my writing about books. March 23, 2024 A gloomy, cold Saturday. Napped, read a little, and then looked at my THINGS. I identify with Henry James’s characters, ergo I must have THINGS. I have no…
The Virginal Lambert Strether: “The Ambassadors,” by Henry James – Thornfield Hall
Charming Lambert Strether, the middle-aged hero of Henry James’s novel, The Ambassadors, may, or may not, technically be a virgin. Although James never directly writes a sex scene, the uncomfortable lack of eroticism in The Ambassadors is unprecedented in his fiction. The protagonist’s innocence may be exaggerated. Strether, an American tourist who settles for several…
The Blossoming of Henry James: Objets d’art & Self-Sacrifice – Thornfield Hall
A young Henry James It was just a bad party, a party where Henry James would not have been caught dead. “It’s fine if you like that kind of thing,” said a friend with an English degree who was working on a Ph.D. In physics “What’s wrong with being serious? In my line of work…
The Portrait of a Sissy: Howard Sturgis’s “Belchamber” – Thornfield Hall
“Belchamber, first published in 1904, is the portrait of a sissy…,” writes Edmund White in the introduction to the NYRB edition. The protagonist is charming, but Sturgis’s peers disliked the book and the critics were tepid. Sturgis’s friend Henry James was critical. Perhaps we are more tolerant of sissies in the twenty-first century. I love…
A Short Masterpiece: Henry James’s “Washington Square” – Thornfield Hall
“Will a wrong motive always do wrong?” Cynthia Ozick in the introduction to James’s Washington Square (Modern Library, 2002) When I first read Washington Square decades ago, it seemed one of Henry James’s simpler books. Now I’ve changed my mind. The twist of the plot leaves the reader breathless. In James’s fictional universe, fortune hunters…