New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1909-08-07


zO2; 500. Charles scribner's Sons
The novel terminating the luxurious new ed-
ton of Mr. Jamess fiction occupies with peculiar
fitness the position 10 which il has been as
signed. 1.-THE Golden Bowl" makes an excellent
confession Of faith: Il is exactly representative
Of the author at that stage in which his talent
may be said 10 have crystazed All the traits
Of the later Henry James are illustrated in this
book--his flair for a provocative subject. his
rather morbid tendency and his resolution 10
refine stin further upon already super-subtle
method The book does not show him at his
best but he has written nothing more character
istic. Prince Amerigo and the American heiress
he wins Maggie Verver, were never altogether
credible. The situation developed when Char
lOtte Slant. beloved by the prince, marries Mag
gie's father was never anything but distasteful.
The unreality of the book and its unpleasant
ness lose nothing again turn these pages.
We still find ourselves marvelling at the queer
company assembled i'm the tale and still
smile over the contrast, curiOusly ignored by
Mr.. James, between the Italian nature and the
intellectual processes which he ascribes 10 an
Italian prince But. by the same token,
nevertheless return TO The Golden Bowl" with
a certain relish II is perfectly Jamesian II
is so thoroughgoing an example for good or for
III. Of his theory and his practice. To the novice
who wanted TO know how he could most pleas
anty become acquainted with the writings Of
this author, would commend The Portrait
of a Lady" II he wished TO get his enjoyment
sitter terms but still insisted upon charm.
We would tell him TO read The Wings OF the
Dove" But if he were quite jaunty and reck-
less. and protested that his introduction TO Mr..
James might be arranged on just an average
basis Of interest and evaporation. would
hand him 1.-THE Golden Bowl"
In the preface in which he takes leave of the
readers Of this edition. Mr.. James reflects on
several important matters CHANGING once more
at the mystery of his own operations as a nov
elist he speaks Of the still marked inveteracy
pf a certain indirect and oblque view of my
presented action" and continues as follows:
I hSve already betrayed, accepted habit,
Srence for dealing with my subject-matter for
the sensbility Of some more less detached. some
not strictly involved though thoroughly interested
and intelligent, witness reporter, some person
who contributes 70 the case mainly certain
that have eatbeTed INTO mis- Seres SaHs 5d
themselves not as my own impersonal account Of
the affair in hand but as my account OF some
bodys impression OF 1.-THE terms OF this persons
access 10 u ana estimate OF II contributing thus
est The somebody Is often. among nv shorter
tales recognize, but an unnamed, unintroduced
ty or 5eleeafe q CONVENIENT sI'pst,.,t s IT,
gist for The creative mower thsTNss So ,,elS o5
disembOdied. My instinct appears repeatedly 10
have been that 10 arrive the facts retaed and the
hgures introduced by the given help u some other
Nv Ia fDdl
the whole businessman is as say, its effective
interestenriched BY the ao0V. have in other
attaching case plus some near individual view OF
Il; that nearness quite having thus 10 become an
imagined observers, projected. charmed painters
OF poets-however avOwed the minor quality in
the latter-close and sensitive contact With H.
Anything. in short. I reflect must always
have seemed TO me better-better for the process
and the effect Of representation. my irrepressible
ideal-than the mere mufied majesty OF irresponsi-
bic authorship"
There is, Of course, nothing new about the
bara fr1io
by most Of t. great masters though they have
not, perhaps, had Mr.. James's keen conscious
ness OF It. Shall we say that they have not
taken themselves with quite the same serious
ness? Or shall We say, rather. that since they
have had greater creative power. their charac-
tiers have been the more apt 10 walk off upon
their own legs and presently to see that the mar
rative enriched by the way" 10 an extent
undreamed of by the American author? Mr..
James gives in this matter an odd instance
Of how hard IL sometimes is for a writer to
judge of his work. Applying the point
dealt with in the foregoing quotation to The
Golden Bowl he remarks that The Prince, in
the first half Of the book virtually sees and
knows and makes out virtually represents TO
himself everything that concerns us--very near
~ though he doesn't speak In the first person.
after the fashion Of other reporters and critics
Of other situations. Having a consciousness
highly susceptible Of registration he thus makes
US see the things that may most interest US re-
Elected in il as in the clean glass held up 20 so
many OF the short stories Of our long list and
yet, after all never whit 20 the prejudice of
his being just consistently a foredooned en-
tangled, embarrassed agent IN the general i'm
broglio, actor in the offered play" 1t is neatly
put, and the claim put forward is valid, so far
as il goes: but Mr.. James fails to see what is
quite clear 20 his reader that the Princes
registration" is hardly really the Princes
own. bur just Mr.. Jamess. That is where his
application Of an immemOrial artistic expedient
breaks down. His characters never seem 10 de
tach themselves from his viii, as for example
do the characters OF Balzac They seem, in
stead, 20 be but the mOuthpieces Of his unchang-
ing mode OF thought, the puppets whose wires
he is forever pulling. In The Golden Bowl at
all events the enrichment by the way. makes us
feel more than that this author can no
mere lose himself in his characters and leave
the latter a free hand than he could Jump off
HIS shadow
Gle is very interesting IN this preface on the /
subject of illustration. he writes apropos OF 1
the frontspeces prepared for the edition from 1
photographs taken for the purpose by Mr.. Alvin 4
Langcon Coburn. mostly rerOductons "os GER /
tain inanirnate characteristics Of London /
streets" They are, indeed. very happy. and. in |
8 way, uncommonly effective. The frontispiece 1
IN the first OF the present volumes presents the 1
ehow window OF a curiosity shop in which the \
Bowl might have been found. Nothing could be 4
more appropriate. Somehow Il seems the shop \
OF al shops which reader saturated in the /
book would pick out as the one. But only 10 1
some such 'inanimate" illustration as this is 4
Mr.. James hOspitable. On the general subject 4
he says;
Anything that relieves responsible prose OF the /
duty Of being while placed before as, good enough 4
ure pictorial enough above ali IN itself does n the
worst 81 services anc may Wen inspire IN the /