The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-06-01
HENRY JAMES ENLlGHTENS,
LADY POLITICAL LEAGUERS HEAR
"THE LESSON OF BALZAC."
Not Many Men in the Audience, which
Learned That Balzac Is - Rank
Tropical Forest OF Detau"-Swat
FOR the Speakers Fellow Noyellsts.

Learned That Balzac Is - Rank
Tropical Forest OF Detan"-Swat
FOR the Speakers Fellow Noyellsts.
or course it was worth 81. but the an
rouncement had not stated the price, and
consequently many Of the ladies who went
to the Berkeley Lyceum. 20 West Forty
fourth street, yesterday morning to hear
Henry James lecture on "The Lessons Of
Eslzac" were obliged to draw on the sub
treasury when they learned the tariff.
1t was a comfort, however, to hear tho
Young man who dclicately sold the tickets
say, when patrons repeated "Two dollars"
with rising infection: Il would give SO
any time to hear Mr. James, 1t was
patent that he was there with tho intellect.
Mr. James's lecture was given under the
auspices OF the League for Political Educa-
ton and was the last, the cap sheaf, Of its
season. The league had lovely little
theater, which has gallery and red lights
at the exits. Its construction seems to
conform 70 the fire laws but its seats do not
conform to the thighbones OF such gross
men as have allowed themselves to run
more to legs than to minute study Of the
microscopic details Of human thought.
Few there were Of such, and the keen
Mr. James perceived it. for he half re-
tracted his salutation, ladies and gentle
men," after he had been introduced by
league officer who pronounced it "Bollsac,'
Mr.. JAMES makes the first "a" short and
snappy, il you care to know 1t. When he
rose to speak there was an end to the fiut-
terng. All the admirers had told ono
another how they had followed Mr.. James
from Daisy Miller onward and could
understand every line Of everything.
Mr.. James wore a black frock coat, a
white waistcoet, wing collar, a white
string tie, and, Of course, other garments
He looks now like bank president rather
than novelist. He is an excellent speaker
Every word is clear, and every clause. If
you cannot comprehend every sentence
and there are many clauses in each-you
are not CT the elect. You have the low,
receding forehead and should be swinging
from branch to branch.
Mr., James talked Of Jane Austen at first.
To him she Is the "brown thrush who tells
his story from the garden bough.- She is
-n the same lucky box with the Brontss"
and her kcy to fortune is the grace OF her
facility
result. Life IL a foundering cause.
When the conservation really takes place
We have been excluded from the fun"
Those are only clauses To print the
whole absorbing sentences Of which they
are parts would be to cause you to let your
coffee cool. Now for Balzac:
For many years the public has taken
his greatness for granted. We are
ready to leg off from knowing anything
about him. He is great, SO let's not talk
about him. The man who il really the
than If he was not member Of the family.
The family Is only likely to recover by
shutting itself up for half an hour with its
founder. 1t was not given to him to flower
in single supreme felicity He stands
almost alone in achieving clossness and
who has learned from him more Of the en-
gaging lessons Of fiction than from any
one else.
Mr.. James defined the novel as ~the
The lyric element he said is not present in
Balzac my more than in Scott, Dumas,
Ihackeray, Dickens or that bright par
ticular genius OF our own day. George
Meredith. There was nice round Of
one in tho crowded little theater seemed to
love him. All the authors Mr.. james named
were, he said lovers Of the image OF life.
Balzac died at 50, worn out by work
plan Some have found fault with his
detail. His is rank, tropical forest Of
detail and specification, but with the strong
breath of genius blowing through it.
He reproduced the real on the acale OF
the real He may at times have heen OBJ
scure by striking too many matches. He
has faults, but they are the faults OF execu-
ton. He is always saturated with his idea
He clearly held the pretended portrayal as
less than nothing. To his characters he
gave fair value. unlike Thackeray. who
wanted TO desecrate poor Becky Sharp,
to follow herup and catch her in her shame"
Mr.. James swatted novelists who -sus-
pend the action in the void, there decorating
it with tinklng bells of dialogue"
Tapestry, Mr.. James said is the last
word for the image of the perfect novel
where closeness of weaving counts
"Ba lac is too great to be moved. He
remains fixed by virtue Of his weight. As
far as we move we move around him.
Every road comes back to him. He sits
there nlassivelv in orientation.'
Then the ladies went away TIE younger
of them were signing over one sentence
that fell from Mr.. Jamee's lbs:
There is no such thing in the world as
en- adventure pure and simple.
Ttey could not admit that they did not