Chapter 34 Henry James

But before that, I must mention a writer who deliberately does not take American country customs as his subject-Henry James.He is not the greatest American writer, but he is undoubtedly the most famous.He is extremely talented, but there are certain flaws hidden in his character that prevent him from fully displaying his talents.He has a sense of humor, insight, keen perception, and can feel the drama of life, but the ordinaryness of his soul makes him unable to deeply understand some of the most basic human emotions, such as love and hate, fear of death, and the meaning of life. Mystery.No one can see through the appearance of things as keenly as he, but he cannot understand the deep meaning behind the appearance.He considers The Ambassadors his best novel.I re-read the book the other day and was struck by its emptiness.The twists and turns of the novel make it rather boring to read.The way the author speaks to the different characters has not been refined, and everyone speaks in the same way—Henry James style.The only living character in the book is Mrs. Newsome, but she never appears directly.And Strether is a stupid, mean and inquisitive old woman.Were it not for Henry James' gift (the most important gift of a novelist) to keep the reader reading from page to page, anxious to know what's coming next, this book would have been unbearable.Besides, no one, so far as I know, has painted so beautifully the wonderful atmosphere of Paris in the spring and summer, except Henry James.I like his "The Americans" better.This book has clear ideas, beautiful language, and maybe some grandeur, such as "going away" as "farewell", "going home" as "returning home", and "sleeping" as "rest", but This is also the charm of that era, which does not annoy me.It is indeed strange in this respect that the novel tells a love story without love in it.Christopher Newman's desire to marry Mrs. Cintra was simply to find a mother for his child who would be an elegant decoration on his table.When the engagement broke up, his pride was humiliated, but his heart was not.These characters are not flesh and blood people, the men are arrogant, and the women are just living crinolines.Lady Cintra, while charming, elegant and regal, is a fairly common character.She is not like a real person, but more like a character imitated after reading Balzac frequently.But after all, Balzac was able to inject his own extraordinary vitality into conventional characters, while Henry James did not have such a knack, so Madame Cintra is no different from the fashionable picture printed on the powder box.The protagonist of the story, Newman, is an American who pioneered the West. Judging from the background of the story, he is likely to be involved in the California Gold Rush.But it is clear that Henry James knew too little of such people to give his protagonist even a modicum of authenticity.It was impossible for Newman, who had been in the casinos of St. Louis and the docks of San Francisco, to acquire that polite way of speaking.Personally, I think he played Henry James.And the real reason the noble Bellegards broke up a marriage contract was not because Newman's fortune was in business, but because Newman, as they discovered in time, was actually an assistant professor of English at Harvard.For all its flaws, The Americans is still worth reading.Henry James' storytelling skills are superb, his suspense suspense is unique, and his dramatic scenes are methodically handled, so that "The Americans" grips the reader's heartstrings from beginning to end.This book is as exciting as a detective novel, if not better.After being in contact with the mind of such a genial, refined, educated writer, you must feel his charm. "The Americans" is not a great book, but it is extremely readable.Few novels can still do that sixty years later.