New-York tribune., 1917-12-02

~ the later developments OF
w his literary habits writes
j. c. Squire in Land and Water Uon-
don). "the powers Of Henry James's mind
we're unimpaired when. over seventy nc
oicd." And the reviewer continues;
~His postbumous works. therefore arc W.
like most things Of the sort They arc not
elected scraps. and they are not the diver
.ions OF an old hand who has 'cit .'c time
of great effort behind him, but "fo 'enh''
kecp away from the pen. The '"o movers,
Tho Ivory Tower and The Sense OF tho fas''
have row been published and mo- ON VINO il
addicted 20 James can afford 20 neglect them
They arc not. and one az least OF them could
not have been. among his ma-terpi'.'.' '''
they arc the real thing and no' % -''''' ,'-
Acction Of 10. And II they are unfinished ihe
deficiency Is more than compensated 'or 'F
the inclusion Iu each volume o' 0.' very
elaborate dictated notes with which '' wa, his
habit 10 assist himself when writing novel
"Al Jsrcs's later works we're dictated. ft
dictated not merely his notes. but successive
drafts of the books themselves, each draft
being an ampidcatiou spoken from t1c tyne
script OF the preceding one. This practice
Vas hound 20 affect the method Of his urcscr-
t.tion. IL acccutuated hrs natural tndenclcs
of discursiyeucss. 'Of course hy admits To
his amanucnsis. y am afraid Of twists.
mean of their multiplying on my hands 10 t0e
effect of too much lcngthenjng and charging
and sprawling' But the twist ~ the moment
occurring 10 him was surely, he thought, ts-
ycntiaI Il assisted, perhaps, his dr'tt away
from the careful description Of appearances,
Of physical gestures and OF scenes. Of which
the earlier James was so great "a master
And no doubt, il also made more vo.dmlnous
the folds Of his sprawling parerthetcaL
profusely be-commaed sentences. These, 1t is
quite notorious, got more and more cNtraor-
dinary as he got older. There are mady IN
the two books now published which will en-
tertain those who get an easy pleasure out
o. Jamess serpentiue phraseology. with the
conclusion: DO you expect US TO read a man
who writes like that% Here is one from
the new and variegated collection of syntacti
cal blooms:
She was happy-this our young woman
perfectly perceived. TO her own very great
Increase Of interest; so happy that, as
had been repeatedly noticeable before,
She multiplied herself through the very
agitation Of 1t, appearing to be. for par
ticular things they had to say TO hes, par
ticular conversational grabs and sna.ches,
all Of the most violent, they kept attempt
ing and mostly achieving at the service
Of every one at once, and thereby as
obhging, as humane beauty after the
fashion of the old term, as could have
charmed the sight.
"Tbere are some such, candidly confess,
OF which have got the general s1l-se, but
no more But one must not mind that occt-
sionally. And one must give him his idiom.
When he makes d dying American millior-
yire saw. You utterly loathe and ahhor the
hustle. That's what I blssfully want Of
you,' he fails Ia superficial verisi'nllitude'
But, after ALL dialogue in novels always bears
marks Of the novelist's style; James's mis-
fortune or fortune was that mis- little turns
Of speech were more unusual than most. And
the wrougness IS only superficial The sent'-
nents underlying the words are the principal
thing: and il was in discovering them that
hc was a true, great, realist.
"His realism in his later books, and con
spicuously in these two, is concerned on'y
with a restricted and very exactng field Of
observation. He avoids strong passions,
strong affections, melodrlmatic situations.
His people DO not stamp or scowl or lie
awake: discomfort in these books, does not
approach agony nor pleasure delglt. his
business Us with the fine features e char
acter, the little unspoken thoughts that un-
derlie land usually greatly differ FROM the
things we say and the precise nature Of the
relations of people with each other and with
their social surroundings. Concentrated on
subtletes Of perception and attitude, he GER
tainly became one-sided. In these two books
one is certainly looking at human beings and
seeing many things about them more clearly
.han ever before but they are seen as IT
were through tinted plate glass which shuts
out sound; they have something of he near
ard clear yet remote and phantasmal appear
anee OF creatures in aquarium. The sea
breezes here do not ruiile the hair; the sun
shine, though bright is scarcely warm. Il is
easy, however, TO say what he did not do;
the important thing is what he did do and
what he did with tremendous pains and trc-
rendous success. The pains were certainly
we'll conceived in Mr.. Wellss reference TO
him as resembling a hippopotamus picking up
pea. But he wasn't hippopotamus and it
wasn't pea II was very large section Of
the ordinRry-not the extraordinary-mental
life Of men and women. His resourcefulness
in inventing situations which should DISPLAY
their reactions upon each other and 10 CIR
cumstsnce, the way in which their conduct is
affected by temperament, by taste, by cor
venience, by ideals by tradition, was uniaue. !"