What an epic sense of relief? Not relief to have finished; relief to have begun. Henry James has, to my view, climbed to sit in the lonely company of the other authors who are, I consider, capable of ending a book appropriately. The Bostonian’s gentle paragraphs, characters, scenes, ideas and plot fell, with delightful tenderness, through my eyes like rain on the desert. I cannot say enough to recommend this book, nor to express my personal sense of gratitude that I have been led to return to the literature of this period. You don’t find too many identified as an interlocutress in the popular fiction of today!
What a wonderful word. Interlocutress. The vocabulary, punctuation and style of Henry James writing is most rewarding. his characterisations so extreme and yet so palpable so as to elicit your approval of character’s actions as befitting their disposition. It also tends to push one towards longer sentences and more complete, if not more deep, circles of thought.
As a final thought it is a strange thing to be reading fiction which includes, as a matter of course, sections on further reading, appendices and a lengthy and scholarly introduction. Should you worry that the Bostonians is in any way oppressive then you need not continue in such a vein. It is a wonderful book. Well written and styled. I particularly enjoyed the review of ideas and behaviours so entirely alien from those popular today. I suppose Basil was always going to lose the war but the account of the battles and skirmishes between Olive Chancellor and himself filled many a minute of otherwise restless commuting. More please!
