Henry James’ The Golden Bowl, The American Scene, and the New York Edition :: American Scene

Henry jam The Golden Bowl, The American vista, and the New York Edition In the letter he wrote to Scribners in 1905 proposing that he furnish from each one volume of his approaching deluxe edition with a preface, Henry James portrayed his novels and stories as disenfranchised beings patiently awaiting a chance for their cause to be righted. James would be their advocate and the prefaces the texts with which he would demonstrate his novels worth (367). In this paper I will argue that the opus of The Golden Bowl and The American Scene were prerequisite precedents and complements to this project of self-vindication. Reading The Golden Bowl through its preface shows that beneath the narratives of familial and marital relations in the novel grade stories of a writers controversy with a misapprehending audience--the same struggles out of which James spun creative autobiography and a theory of fiction in the prefaces to the New York Edition. Through his verifying cri tique of his readership in The Golden Bowl and the fierce challenges he delivered to his compatriots in The American Scene James laid essential groundwork for the lessons in practice and creative payoff he would later offer in the New York Edition. Paul Armstrong has argued that Jamess prefaces require the same doubled reading his novels require, that while the reader is riveting Jamess account of his writing experience and his theory of writing, the reader is also responding to James as a centering consciousness whose interpretive attitudes . . . are as a lot on pompousness and as much an object for the readers scrutiny as the impressions of a Lambert Strether or a Maggie Verver (128). As comparable centering consciousnesses, James the preface-writer and his heroine Maggie Verver make greens assertions. Both figures demonstrate the power of the creative deed. Paralleling Jamess affirmations about doing in the preface to The Golden Bowl is Maggies discovery in the novel of her avouch brilliant aptitude for action. After the assignation of the Prince with Charlotte in Gloucester, Maggie begins to doubt of her wonderful little judgement of her wonderful little world (307). She begins to put things both to herself and the batch around her. She contrives gestures to imprint a change in her practically unattackable situation.Henry James The Golden Bowl, The American Scene, and the New York Edition American SceneHenry James The Golden Bowl, The American Scene, and the New York Edition In the letter he wrote to Scribners in 1905 proposing that he furnish each volume of his forthcoming deluxe edition with a preface, Henry James portrayed his novels and stories as disenfranchised beings patiently awaiting a chance for their cause to be righted. James would be their advocate and the prefaces the texts with which he would demonstrate his novels worth (367). In this paper I will argue that the writing of The Golden Bowl and Th e American Scene were essential precedents and complements to this project of self-vindication. Reading The Golden Bowl through its preface shows that beneath the narratives of familial and marital relations in the novel run stories of a writers contention with a misapprehending audience--the same struggles out of which James spun creative autobiography and a theory of fiction in the prefaces to the New York Edition. Through his indirect critique of his readership in The Golden Bowl and the fierce challenges he delivered to his compatriots in The American Scene James laid essential groundwork for the lessons in reading and creative production he would later offer in the New York Edition. Paul Armstrong has argued that Jamess prefaces require the same doubled reading his novels require, that while the reader is absorbing Jamess account of his writing experience and his theory of writing, the reader is also responding to James as a centering consciousness whose interpre tive attitudes . . . are as much on display and as much an object for the readers scrutiny as the impressions of a Lambert Strether or a Maggie Verver (128). As comparable centering consciousnesses, James the preface-writer and his heroine Maggie Verver make common assertions. Both figures demonstrate the power of the creative deed. Paralleling Jamess affirmations about doing in the preface to The Golden Bowl is Maggies discovery in the novel of her own brilliant capacity for action. After the assignation of the Prince with Charlotte in Gloucester, Maggie begins to doubt of her wonderful little judgement of her wonderful little world (307). She begins to put things both to herself and the people around her. She contrives gestures to effect a change in her practically unattackable situation.