V2nd, C3: pov in sec. viii

[alice wellintown]

Thw Wall Street Journal is a changes newspaper; you can read some very
fine little essays on art, music, literature in it from time to time.

The Smiling Genius reminds us that we have a bias against comedy; as
we age, perhaps this bias wanes?

"What Maisie Knew" (1897) stands at the threshold of James's late
style. Although the novel has a clearly discernible plot and an "air
of reality," it also shows James's growing fascination with an
individual's subjective perception of the world.

...

Unlike his brother, the philosopher William James, Henry was never
interested in just the facts. Rather, it was the slowly acquired
reality of an individual perception that held the novelist's interest.
No "subject" is as affecting as little Maisie. Left to the devices of
her own brave imagination, she is James's real masterpiece.

—Ms. Sethi is a Robert L. Bartley Fellow at the Journal.

The Smiling Genius Emmanuel Chabrier, music's master of good cheer


On Sat, Jul 24, 2010 at 9:05 PM, alice wellintown
<alicewellintown at gmail.com> wrote:
> As far the sources of a gnostic reading, I'm sure I have a long list
> someplace, but Bloom, Eddins--Voegelin, and look into Thomas Pynchon's
> Gravity's rainbow : a study of its conceptual structure and of Rilke's
> influence / Charles Hohmann, Sorry, best I can do at the moment.
>
> Did read a couple few interesting articles in the WSJ today; the one
> one on Henry James is nice.
>