Henry James in respect to Edith Wharton
Your first assignment due over this weekend to be completed by Sunday afternoon is to summarize to the best of your abilities what Henry James is saying in his essay "The Art of Fiction" and how his ideas about fiction relate to Edith Wharton's "Souls Belated." Don't wait until the last minute on this one, because this is quite an assigment.
posted by Dustin Parsons at 6:26 PM
4 Comments:
Although I had some trouble understanding all of "The Art of Fiction", the main idea that I took from the article is that Henry James feels as though criticism on novels is too harsh. He appears to disagree with Mr. Besant's views that a novel must be written from experience as James goes on to explain that everything written comes from experience in one way or another. He states that there is a general sense that fiction writers should apologize for their writing as it is "make-believe" but he does not share this feeling because their is truth in everything written. He states that a novel "does attempt to represent life" (554). He goes on to say that for a novel to be considered "good", it truly depends on the taste of each individual reader and what he/she generally likes or dislikes. There are many definitions of a "good" fictitious work. He believes that a novel is a work of art that is impossible to teach to others as an artist may be able to teach to pupils. James believes that everything is an experience, whether or not the author is writing about something they actually lived through. He explains that even a glimpse of something makes a picture and that that picture is in itself an experience. He appears to criticize Mr. Besant's beliefs that characters "must be clear in outline". He explains that it is difficult to define HOW characters are "clear in outline". In Edith Whart's story, "Souls Belated", she never once gives a physical description of Lydia and Gannett, but through the dialogue between them and the events that take place, it is easy for a reader to feel as though they know the characters. At the conclusion of James' article, he gives advice to a novelist and states that "I should remind him first of the magnificence of the form that is open to him" and also "try and catch the colour of life itself" (567). In short, James simply wants novelists to capture the essence of life whether or not they personally experienced the ideas they are writing about.
Comparing James' views on fiction to Edith Whart's story is a difficult task for me. I am not sure if my assignment it to compare his views on fiction to Whart's writing or to the events that took place in the story concerning Gannett's writing (or lack there of since he met Lydia). As I stated before, a main connection I saw between James' views and Whart's writing is that there is no physical description of the characters but as a reader, I am still able to clearly see who they are and this lack of description does not take away from the meaning of the work. The events are interesting to me, as a reader, but may not be to another. Whether or not Whart actually experienced a situation similar to that of Lydia whereas she had left her husband for another man only to find that this new relationship cannot continue due to her own morals and beliefs, Whart still captured a valid experience that many others can relate to and choose to like or dislike as they please ( as James explained). As far as connecting James' ideas to the events in the actual story regarding Gannett's lack of writing during the time he is with Lydia, I do not see any clear correlations so I'm hoping that it is safe to assume that the assignment is to compare James' article to Whart's writing. I had a hard time understanding exactly what James was trying to say as at first he appeared to agree with "Mr. Besant" but later appeared to be disagreeing with him and I never understood who Mr. Besant was in the first place. However, if what I have concluded James was trying to say is at least partially correct, I agree that criticism on fiction novelists is too harsh and that it is impossible to dictate rules in which they must follow when writing about a particular situation. I do not necessarily understand the "betrayal" James speaks of when people read fiction because a person usually knows it is "make-believe" when they start reading. As Whart's story was published before her introduction states she actually separated from her husband, I assume that most of this work was fictitious but possibly based on some reality in that she was in an unhappy marriage.
My blogger URL is http://AmbersAmericanLitResponses.blogspot.com
You can find my assignment there. :)
Henry James, to me, is at times a very hard person to understand. I have read part of his "Figure in the Carpet", well, more like the first couple paragraphs of that story and felt very confused afterwards. At this, this work started the same way. He does go into a lot of detail of the topics in which he is talking about and this way he can be very thorough. From what I could make out from the things he said is writing novels is just not something done for entertainment and to be taken lightly all the time. It is an art form such as painting a picture is an art form. However, the meanings of these pieces of art have different uses. But it is the differences that make it all matter. "Their inspriation is the same, their process (allowing for the different quality of the vehicle), is the same, their success is the same. They may learn from each other, they may explain and sustain each other"(555). The events in life is what inspires all art, whether it be paintings or novels; "A novel is in its broadest definition a personal, a direct impression of life"(557). IN this sense, there is no right or wrong way to create something. Everyone has their own ideas of what is good, or how to create. No matter what though, there will never been one way accepted by all beause for the fact that art is impressions of life, all lives are different and the way one person paints a picture for example, they are going to paint it to their standards, to their liking or within their abilities. This art being so personalized, we each have our own meanings and values to different things "For the value of these different injunctions- so beautiful and so vague- is wholly in thee meaning one attaches to them"(558). It is our experiences that give us and help us form our personal meanings to everything in the world. "Experience is never limited, and it is never complete (559). All in all, there is no right and wrong when coming to art; it is a form of expression and the meanings within ourselves give meaning to our art. And no one can take that away from you and the people who critize need to simmer down. "I have no right to tamper with your flute and then criticise your music"(562)
nor does a critic when coming to writing novels.
In relation to Edith Wharton's "Souls Belated", this story encompasses the idea James was trying to convey in "The Art of Fiction." The meanings of things and the experiences that one has is a very personal encounter. The main character has just gone through a divorce with a man who lived his life in luxury, in a high class setting. Among these high class people, certain things are required of the family members and the people they bring into the family such as what to wear, what to eat, timing, scheduling and even as far as the people you associate yourself with. Within these restrictions, one can not be themselves as they naturally are and a narrow view of the world is held, finding yourself stuck in one way of thinking. "Of course one acts as one can- as one must, perhaps- pulled by all sorts of invisible threads"(852). The main character is put into the restrictions people were putting writers into about writing being an art. There is only value in the traditions, regulations one sets out for themselves and that everyone follow those regulations or you become ostercized from society.
hey im not exactly sure how to get into your people who you have links for or how you wanted this presented but its on my page.
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