Henry James at Good For You
Before the week is out, I hope, we'll have started reading The Ambassadors at the Daily Blague's sister site, Good For You. If you're not sure about the author in question, this reading is probably not for you. Henry James's trio of three late novels are famously difficult to read, not because of big words or deep thoughts but because of very long sentences with lots of clauses; to say that they "bristle with discriminations" is, if I don't mind saying so myself, a fine example of Jamesian understatement. (The Ambassadors, The Wings of the Dove, and The Golden Bowl are not James's last novels, as is usually asserted; everyone overlooks (perhaps rightly) his novelization of The Outcry, yet another one of his doomed plays, this one forestalled by the closing of the theatres in 1911 in respect of the death of Edward VII.) The secret to reading late James is to remember that it was dictated, not written. Read it aloud for a while, and the rhythms will make it quite intelligible.
Tackling three difficult novels is an odd way of trying out a new kind of book club, and I will probably regret it if I live.
