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Title: Henry James : Complete Stories 1892-1898 (Library of America, 82) by Henry James, Jean Strouse, William L. Vance, Edward Said, John Hollander, David Bromwich, Denis Donoghue ISBN: 1-883011-09-4 Publisher: Library of America Pub. Date: 01 January, 1996 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)
Rating: 5
Summary: Little Gems from The Master
Comment: Henry James (1843-1916) was nicknamed The Master by admiring fellow-authors towards the end of his life. He is truly a noble, gifted, psychological author depicting a by-gone era but including timeless insights about human beings and their general and mental situations in his writings. He is a master of lengthy prose (too lengthy for some!) These Library of America editions of James's writings are wonderful, high-quality, unabridged books with expert editing (notes) at the back of the volume. They have a knack for selecting the best editions of the author's writings where more than one version was published in the author's lifetime. The short stories of this volume are from the mature period but before James' final developed style of fictional writing. There are a large number of stories including many wonderful gems such as "Owen Wingrave," "The Coxon Fund" and "In the Cage." To be fair, most of the stories were written quickly for magazines, and a few ("Glasses" comes to mind) just aren't good stories at all, in my opinion. However, most of the stories do succeed quite well. "Owen Wingrave" (criticized by Bernard Shaw as being too deterministic and neglecting free will) is actually a penetrating tale about military culture, military values, and the role of the military in the nineteenth-century world. "The Coxon Fund" is about a brilliant lecturer supported by the fund but whose life and the lives of his supporters are full of pitfalls outside of the Fund's influence. The story shows how the successes and failures of the Fund (and the Lecturer) have subtle and not-so-subtle ramifications for each of the characters. With "In the Cage", the author steps outside of his accustomed higher-class and higher-educated mix of characters to present the plight of a penetrating lower-class telegram processor and her insights on life and her suitor. I found it a nice rendition of late-nineteenth century London. I encourage readers to explore this and other Library of America editions of James' writings.
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