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A review by sharone7
Henry James: The Master: 1901-1916 by Leon Edel
4.0
Edel is considered the ultimate Henry James expert, and he definitely gives off the sense of being immersed in James' life and work. I suppose it is his knowledge of James that gives him the confidence to make some of the assumptions he does about what James thinks and feels at a given moment.
In general I liked Edel's approach to the biography - in the introduction to this volume he writes about his non-traditional structure and rather imaginative approach, which he sees as dictated by the material and the subject. I can't say I disagree with him on that. However, what I liked far less was his over-emphasis on psychoanalysis in his readings of James' work. I know that it's a marker of Edel's literary and cultural moment, but I find it reductive - too convenient and neat. Sometimes it seems that Edel is trying to hard to identify a specific personal narrative arc in James' career. I should say that I found Edel's depiction of the last few months of James' life, and his death, to be the most moving I have read. I cried when the cher maitre died. But that might just be because I have a problem with unhealthy author-scholar relationships.
In general I liked Edel's approach to the biography - in the introduction to this volume he writes about his non-traditional structure and rather imaginative approach, which he sees as dictated by the material and the subject. I can't say I disagree with him on that. However, what I liked far less was his over-emphasis on psychoanalysis in his readings of James' work. I know that it's a marker of Edel's literary and cultural moment, but I find it reductive - too convenient and neat. Sometimes it seems that Edel is trying to hard to identify a specific personal narrative arc in James' career. I should say that I found Edel's depiction of the last few months of James' life, and his death, to be the most moving I have read. I cried when the cher maitre died. But that might just be because I have a problem with unhealthy author-scholar relationships.