The sun., 1916-12-17
HENRY JAMES SEEN THROUGH ENG.
LLSH EYES.
The American Born Novelist Discussed BY Two Foreign Critics, With Com
ment BY Mr.. James Hunker.

words as a final message; nor are t,.
other phrases quoted: THE sou, h, ,
immortal certainly--if you've go, on.
but most people haven't. Pleosnr.
would be right II 1t were pleasure rirh,
through. but IL never u.s." Mr.. Upe,.
fer says that James found t.nelisb
people who were just people singularlv
nasty" and who ran say him nav afte,
reading THE Sacred Fount"? Isu, h,
ends on the right note: And for a ma,
to have attained to international rank
with phrases intimately national Is IN.
supreme achievement OF WRITER'S
glory that IL reserved only for ,bo
Dantes. tho Goethes and the Shake.
speares. who none the less remain su.
premely national" Neither Mr.. II,ee,,
o Miss West is in doui,, AZ IA
the essential Americanism Of Henry
James. He Is almost as American a.
IIowells.
The present writer years ago wrote
Of tho James art as fiction for the
future. His Is the Cerebral Concdy
par excellence. To alter his own words
he plays his int liectual ins,r,.
ment to perfection. He is a portrait.
list doubled by a psychologist. His sou
Is not n solitary pool In a midnish,
forest. but an unrufiied lake, sun smi,.
ten or cloud shadowed: yet In whose
depths there Is n moving mass Of OK.
quisite living things. His page,
reverberato with the under hum -,
humanity. We may not exactly saw
Of him ms IIazlitt said of Waiter
Scott: His works. taken aliogcthn-
are almost like n new edition Of human
nature But We a follow with tho
coda Of that same dictum: "This IL IN.
deed to be an author" Many moro
than tho dozen superior persons men.
toned by Huysmans enjoy the jane.
novels. His swans are not always i'm.
maculate, but they arc not swans
of the CcsspOol." to quote Lando-
There Is never an odor OF leaking Gas
In his premises. as he oncc remarked
OF tho DAnnunzio fiction. He has
the cosmopolitan soul. There is no
SLOUGH In his spiritual gait. Liz.
lienan. ho abhorred the horrible
mania of certitude' To lie found IN
tho writing OF his rcalisti, con,cmro.
raries. He o not always dot lie
rs OF his irony. n subrisive Irony.
But the spiritual antcnnn which he
puts forth so tentatively always touch
real things, not conjecturai. And vhs,
tactic sense he boasts. He pceps
into the glowing core Of emotion. hu,
seldom describes II. His ears arc for
~overtones. not the brassv harmonic,
OF the obvious. Of truths. Hat and f'cxl.
BILE. Yet what novelist has kent h.s
al so close tn duotidian happenings.
and with what dignity and charm IN
his crumbling %cadenccs: Not even
that virtuoso of tho ugly. iiuysmars
than whom no writer OF the past con.
fury ever "rendered' surfaces in,
such impeccable truth. with slich IN.
pIacablc ferccity, is as clalryoS ant a.
James.
Fustian ard thunder form no ,,tr, -
the James stories. which arc Tx, aNav
whispering gallery, the aim rcvcra,.
tions of which III tho listeuir- ,I-
lie is Al 'auditive' as well rs a "v!..Il-
ist," to employ the precious classlnc,.
ton IT tho psychiatrists. His a~>,it.
senses tell him Of IA world vino.
"" are only beginning 10 rum.
prehend. He Is never obscure. r,,,r
reconcile: but, Ike BROWNING. -
sends n v"r'tahle muitiplcX If .ir.,
along Il single wire. Mr.. How.
mas rightly said Of HIM That i g.. D.
We'll u pursue N" meanings a.
author 10 the very heart of dainn,-
However, readers as Il RAJ" ':>e
fiction served Oh q shiny p.l;r. a'.,.
all, they don't Ike Il story to bo-..
. ono kgE and ,tll it "a 49,. .s 4. 80
he pork and mnlaSsos or "lir
lIominy' ,~,;corGe Morrlth's W ,
then lct il he these delcctau,n G-...
through every course. liut Jam,- ,
ever In inodulatipn. II" tos,7s .
theme hai!wise in the air. ana 81
lis spirals spin and hat.le in tho
ne wea|os a well Of gold ana lace. aa.
1t Is marr'llously spun. Tie is ne,
atmosphere than linear. Ills theme .
SHOWN from n variety Of Hnrles. =
inc rtSui is synthetic. Mis- car;
pointed out that he IL not "A rcn.al. .
less analyst. II" does not tx, 81
mechanism of his m|ar!uncttr a.n.
hut lets us examine 1t IN cump.rt.u,-
As n psychologists Ao staua- m.,t,
bst"c'n Stcndnal ard TGr.rn.v
'hleiprcts feeling. rather than IL
Like our sister planet. the mu p
mas his rAytHm.C moments o.. g. .
'i"n' he then reveals his ot',r ,..,
PROFOUNDLY human. emotions. ua,.
Is not all frosty intellect. Rut ia %. -.
IN horror the facile expression ~ ,
sentiments. It's only too easy ,,.t,r. .
Tor those avid of scutimrntt,n. OIL.
10 express what Thomas lIuN.ov ,