henry james excerpt
a typical James sentence:
Coming downstairs to meet my colleague in the hall, I remembered a pair of gloves that had required three stitches and that had received them--with a publicity perhaps not edifying--while I sat with the children at their tea, served on Sundays, by exception, in that cold, clean temple of mahogany and brass, the "grown-up" dining room.Now i love discursive sentences, make no mistake. David Wallace, for example. But with James i'm constantly reviewing every sentence to see if anything important happened in it.
posted by good old o at
1:42 PM
2 Comments:
Crikey, though, the last sentence? "We were alone with the quiet day, and his little heart, dispossessed, had stopped." That James *could* cool it when he needed to, in my mind, 's what sets him apart from others who habitually overpack their sentences.
By
indeterminate identity, at 2:16 PM
I'll admit that last one is sweet like cucumber tea, but i think maybe he shoulda wrote poetry instead of prose. Nobody talks or emotes like James's characters, they're all lunatics of the first water.
By
Anonymous, at 2:42 PM
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