A very beautifully produced book is Henry James : letters
to A. C: Benson Mid-Auguste Moriod ; now first published and edited with an introduction by Mi.: E.' F. Benson (Elkin; Mathews and Marrot, 15s:), Henry James was a remarkable man, greater even than his books, and in these letters may be found, as Mr. Mermen nays, his hooka in the _making, and therefore the double charm of his writing and his conversation.
Just RS the sketch for a picture by-a master-artist may be more suggestive than the finished piece, so this rich allusive talk contained a freshness that vanished when the full flower, intricate and involved, blossomed between the covers of his book." To literature and to friendship Henry James devoted his great brain and heart : here we have both displayed with a rare dignity and balance. Ile was a frank as well as ats enthusiastic critic of his friend's work. " In general I feel a certain desire to screw you up just a peg higher . . . to make you squeeze your subject a little tighter, press on it with a little harder thumb." But no extracts can give the inimitable flavour of this correspondence : , after reading it one has a feeling that life has been enriched by contact with a noble mind.
Previous page
