What do you think?
Rate this book
The Art of Criticism: Henry James on the Theory and the Practice of Fiction
In The Art of Criticism , William Veeder and Susan M. Griffin have brought together for the first time the best of the Master's critical the most important of his Prefaces, which R. P. Blackmur has called "the most sustained and I think the most eloquent and original piece of literary criticism in existence"; his studies of Hawthorne, George Eliot, Balzac, Zola, de Maupassant, Turgenev, Sante-Beuve, and Arnold; and his essays on the function of criticism and the future of the novel.
The editors have provided what James himself emphasized in his literary criticism—the text's context. Each selection is framed by an editorial commentary and notes which give its biographical, bibliographical, and critical background and cite other references in James' work to the topic discussed. This framework, along with the editors' introduction, gives the reader a sense of the place of these pieces in the history of criticism.
The editors have provided what James himself emphasized in his literary criticism—the text's context. Each selection is framed by an editorial commentary and notes which give its biographical, bibliographical, and critical background and cite other references in James' work to the topic discussed. This framework, along with the editors' introduction, gives the reader a sense of the place of these pieces in the history of criticism.
- GenresNonfiction
528 pages, Paperback
First published June 15, 1986
About the author
Henry James
3,841 books3,522 followersHenry James was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the son of Henry James Sr. and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James.
He is best known for his novels dealing with the social and marital interplay between émigré Americans, the English, and continental Europeans, such as The Portrait of a Lady. His later works, such as The Ambassadors, The Wings of the Dove and The Golden Bowl were increasingly experimental. In describing the internal states of mind and social dynamics of his characters, James often wrote in a style in which ambiguous or contradictory motives and impressions were overlaid or juxtaposed in the discussion of a character's psyche. For their unique ambiguity, as well as for other aspects of their composition, his late works have been compared to Impressionist painting.
His novella The Turn of the Screw has garnered a reputation as the most analysed and ambiguous ghost story in the English language and remains his most widely adapted work in other media. He wrote other highly regarded ghost stories, such as "The Jolly Corner".
James published articles and books of criticism, travel, biography, autobiography, and plays. Born in the United States, James largely relocated to Europe as a young man, and eventually settled in England, becoming a British citizen in 1915, a year before his death. James was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911, 1912, and 1916. Jorge Luis Borges said "I have visited some literatures of East and West; I have compiled an encyclopedic compendium of fantastic literature; I have translated Kafka, Melville, and Bloy; I know of no stranger work than that of Henry James."
He is best known for his novels dealing with the social and marital interplay between émigré Americans, the English, and continental Europeans, such as The Portrait of a Lady. His later works, such as The Ambassadors, The Wings of the Dove and The Golden Bowl were increasingly experimental. In describing the internal states of mind and social dynamics of his characters, James often wrote in a style in which ambiguous or contradictory motives and impressions were overlaid or juxtaposed in the discussion of a character's psyche. For their unique ambiguity, as well as for other aspects of their composition, his late works have been compared to Impressionist painting.
His novella The Turn of the Screw has garnered a reputation as the most analysed and ambiguous ghost story in the English language and remains his most widely adapted work in other media. He wrote other highly regarded ghost stories, such as "The Jolly Corner".
James published articles and books of criticism, travel, biography, autobiography, and plays. Born in the United States, James largely relocated to Europe as a young man, and eventually settled in England, becoming a British citizen in 1915, a year before his death. James was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911, 1912, and 1916. Jorge Luis Borges said "I have visited some literatures of East and West; I have compiled an encyclopedic compendium of fantastic literature; I have translated Kafka, Melville, and Bloy; I know of no stranger work than that of Henry James."
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 20, 2017
My studies of English Literature lie in my distant past, and while I enjoy reading novels I rarely stop to review the evolution of critical thought and theory underpinning them. Having been recommended to Henry James by mystery novelist Donna Leon's frequent mentions of his prose, I undertook to both read one of his novels (The Europeans) and seek his insights on the craft.
Upon opening the essay collection, The Art of Criticism, I was struck by how poorly my reading has prepared me to appreciate most of James' observations. The book contains essays of his contemporary commentary on fellow authors and on his own novels as released in anthology form for publication. Without having read either set of works nor being inclined to invest the time in catching up, I was left to peruse this volume for essays that appeared to offer standalone commentary.
Three essays stand out as being mostly independent of other works, but the gem is The Art of Fiction. I found James' views to resonate strongly with my own evolving critical perception of fiction.
Rather than pretend to be well-positioned to reflect upon, critique, or elaborate on his works, I submit to your consideration the most poignant quotes I gleaned from his text:
"Catching the very note and trick, the strange irregular rhythm of life, that is the attempt whose strenuous force keeps Fiction upon her feet." (p177)
"The air of reality (solidity of specification) seems to me to be the supreme virtue of a novel - the merit on which all its other merits helplessly and submissively depend. If these be there, they owe their effect to the success with which the author has produced the illusion of life." (p173)
"A novel is in its broadest definition a personal, a direct impression of life: that, to begin with, constitutes its value, which is greater or less according to the intensity of the impression." (p170)
"It is [in cultivating the air of reality] that he competes with life; it is here that he competes with his brother the painter and his attempt to render the look of things, the look that conveys their meaning, to catch the color, the relief, the expression, the surface, the substance of the human spectacle." (p173)
"The only obligation to which in advance we may hold a novel, without incurring the accusation of being arbitrary, is that it be interesting... the ways in which it is at liberty to accomplish this result strike me as innumerable, and such as can only suffer from being marked out or fenced in by prescription." (p170)
"We must grant the artist his subject, his idea ... our criticism is applied only to what he makes of it. Naturally I do not mean that we are bound to like it or find it interesting: in case we do not our course is perfectly simple - to let it alone." (p175)
"Of course it is of execution that we are talking - that being the only point of a novel that is open to contention...we may believe that of a certain idea even the most sincere novelist can make nothing at all, and the event may perfectly justify our belief; but the failure will have been a failure to execute, and it is in the execution that the fatal weakness is recorded." (p175)
"The cultivation of [the air of reality], the study of this exquisite process, form, to my taste, the beginning and the end of the art of the novelist. They are his inspiration, his despair, his reward, his torment, his delight." (p173)
"Art derives a considerable part of its beneficial exercise from flying in the face of presumptions, and some of the most interesting experiments of which it is capable are hidden in the bosom of common things." (p175)
Upon opening the essay collection, The Art of Criticism, I was struck by how poorly my reading has prepared me to appreciate most of James' observations. The book contains essays of his contemporary commentary on fellow authors and on his own novels as released in anthology form for publication. Without having read either set of works nor being inclined to invest the time in catching up, I was left to peruse this volume for essays that appeared to offer standalone commentary.
Three essays stand out as being mostly independent of other works, but the gem is The Art of Fiction. I found James' views to resonate strongly with my own evolving critical perception of fiction.
Rather than pretend to be well-positioned to reflect upon, critique, or elaborate on his works, I submit to your consideration the most poignant quotes I gleaned from his text:
"Catching the very note and trick, the strange irregular rhythm of life, that is the attempt whose strenuous force keeps Fiction upon her feet." (p177)
"The air of reality (solidity of specification) seems to me to be the supreme virtue of a novel - the merit on which all its other merits helplessly and submissively depend. If these be there, they owe their effect to the success with which the author has produced the illusion of life." (p173)
"A novel is in its broadest definition a personal, a direct impression of life: that, to begin with, constitutes its value, which is greater or less according to the intensity of the impression." (p170)
"It is [in cultivating the air of reality] that he competes with life; it is here that he competes with his brother the painter and his attempt to render the look of things, the look that conveys their meaning, to catch the color, the relief, the expression, the surface, the substance of the human spectacle." (p173)
"The only obligation to which in advance we may hold a novel, without incurring the accusation of being arbitrary, is that it be interesting... the ways in which it is at liberty to accomplish this result strike me as innumerable, and such as can only suffer from being marked out or fenced in by prescription." (p170)
"We must grant the artist his subject, his idea ... our criticism is applied only to what he makes of it. Naturally I do not mean that we are bound to like it or find it interesting: in case we do not our course is perfectly simple - to let it alone." (p175)
"Of course it is of execution that we are talking - that being the only point of a novel that is open to contention...we may believe that of a certain idea even the most sincere novelist can make nothing at all, and the event may perfectly justify our belief; but the failure will have been a failure to execute, and it is in the execution that the fatal weakness is recorded." (p175)
"The cultivation of [the air of reality], the study of this exquisite process, form, to my taste, the beginning and the end of the art of the novelist. They are his inspiration, his despair, his reward, his torment, his delight." (p173)
"Art derives a considerable part of its beneficial exercise from flying in the face of presumptions, and some of the most interesting experiments of which it is capable are hidden in the bosom of common things." (p175)
Want to read
March 12, 2008Prof. Veeder taught my Introduction to Fiction class.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews