The Major Phase, my experience

[Sir Bartholomew]

I read the Ambassadors without knowing its obstacles. It was tough and I never fully appreciated it then. It was my first reading of what they so called James' late phase; I had no idea then what that meant.

Subsequently I read the Wings of the Dove and the Golden Bowl; my admiration for James has grown steadily yet slowly. I came to know what he was all about and his peculiarities, but, he infuriates nonetheless.

So I asked myself, why write like this? And why read this nonsense? I read the Portrait of a Lady with minimal effort (I wasn't acquainted with book reading at that time); there are moments in it of introspection but none like in the later novels. To answer my question, with the help of some helpful book intros, I read like a crazy martyr. There are times where I thought my nose will bleed. I felt like a failure.

But everything came clearer when I put less into it. James wrote like this to confuse and, I guess and hope, that he didn't mean to be comprehensible (I mean those long passages of "whatever", as I called them). What I did was I let it all go, relaxed and didn't care if I wasn't getting it. I only did my best to work it all out after reading the final page; and somehow, it did make sense.

I can safely say that the Golden Bowl impressed me most. Before reading it I knew what I'll be getting myself into. I sat down, I leaned back and read as if I was Alfred Hitchcock, I muttered F.U. whenever James is at "it" again. In the end the novel satisfied me more than I expected. I had this urge to reread the Ambassadors and the Wings of the Dove, but not now. I had to recuperate my sanity first.

[Virgil]

Nice to meet you Sir Bart. I've wondered about James's late style myself. I've read The Ambassadors and enjoyed it immensley. I tried reading The Golden Bowl and couldn't get through it. Why does James write this way? I think he's trying to create an atmosphere reality is difficult to sort out. I think it's an aesthetic approach on the writer's part.

[Virgil]

To both of you: have you read F.O. Matthiessen's book? (Henry James: The Major Phase) I read a little of it a while back, and I believe in the introduction he talks about HJ adopting his 'fussy', more convoluted style as a means of, in a sense, keeping himself company, filling the gap left by the fact that no one was really reading his work after Portrait. I found this pretty interesting, because that is for me part of the appeal of the late style - it seems to engage with the reader's (and apparently the author's) intellect in such a way as not to admit of any influences from the world around, positive or negative; every sentence has some remoter (his word, I think) shade of meaning than one is likely used to dealing with in such large quantities, so that one must effectually shut everything out while reading.

I have not seen that Janesian. If you recommend it, I wll look for it. I do want to appreciate Henry James more. There are moments I see his brilliance, and yet his style seems to sometimes hold me back.

[Sir Bartholomew]

Sure, I have this Henry James shorts collection from Bantam, only read two though (Daisy Miller and Turn of the Screw; also it has Beast in the Jungle, Jolly Corner and Washington Square). I tried reading The Jolly Corner and I fell asleep (that was years ago). It would be nice reading them; and Matthiessen's book too, if I find it in my location.

As for the his humor, I sensed it, in some way, in Aunt Maude and I thought the paranoid mother in the Ambassadors was funny, but it was in the Assinghams where I heard myself giggle.

And isn't it funny to find the words "lubrication" and "intercourse" in the same sentence?

[Lady Sylvie]

Sir Bartholomew,
I would like to sincerely thank you. A friend of mine had mentioned Henry James earlier tonight, so I directly went online searching for whatever action was going on concerning his works. Call me an ignorant but i didn't know about the literature network, and i stumbled upon your comment.
Let me just say it was very interesting! I joined this community just to be able to reply to your post!
Your description made me eager to read every word James wrote, though it seems a crazy task to undertake! I could imagine you with the different books and the different attitudes you took... The resulting image was both interesting and entertaining.. I'm already acquainted with the long passages of whatever with other authors! James might not be so hard after all! However, After three years of a severe isolation from books, I find your comment a good re-introduction to this fascinating world. Thank you.

[Sir Bartholomew]

No sweat your ladyship. i'm actually going to reread all his works that i own when i'm done with this Hemingway book i'm reading. i think henry james' a b**ch but i like him anyway.