Henry James: A Life

Rating:
Summary: One of the great literary biographies
Review: This is one of the great literary biographies . Edel labored on the James biography for over twenty years and has great sympathy and admiration for his subject. In a sense the work has something of the quality and intelligence the character of James' writing itself. It is the story of a life devoted to art a life in which experience seemed to less exist as value in itself than as material for its artistic transformation and elaboration. One of the great moving parts of the work is the story of James' tragic failure as a playwright. And the story of his recovery from it and his going on to produce the New York edition of his works is a story of a kind of determination and courage displayed by this most dedicated of artists. As to the relationships of James to the other members of his remarkable family including the philosopher who wrote like a novelist his brother William Edel is instructive but not exhaustive. It was nonetheless touching to read how these two great figures of American intellectual life came towards the end of their days to show a brotherly caring and respect which overcame the inherent ambivalences of their somewhat rivalous relationship.
The reader needs patience and a feeling for Jamesian abstraction and complexity. But this work will help the reader know well, if not completely, the great American novelist who wrote as if a philosopher.