Portrait of a Novel: Henry James and the Making of an American Masterpiece [Paperback]

Henry James (18431916) has had many biographers, but Michael Gorra has taken an original approach to this great American progenitor of the modern novel, combining elements of biography, criticism, and travelogue in re-creating the dramatic backstory of Jamess masterpiece,Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize A fascinating book, not just about a storm, but about the hard-drinking, fatalistic lives of commercial fishermen and the families and friends they leave behind with each dangerous voyage. Its hard to imagine, indeed, that there is much illumination still to offer on this particular author, or this particular book. Yet Gorra has produced a welcome new addition to the shelf. Takes the rare but wise decision to approach James through the channel of a single work... In deference to Jamess brilliance, Gorra has assumed the role of a professional prismatist. He peers at the book from multiple anglesthose of biography, geography, publishing, textual variation, and mild erotic sleuthing, among othersas if hoping to catch it at an unfamiliar slant. The authors encyclopedic understanding of not only James, but also his influences and contemporaries, offers a thoroughly illustrated and appropriately tumultuous picture of fictions awkward adolescence between stilted Victorianism and modernistic messiness. The reader does not have to love or even be particularly familiar with Jamess work to enjoy this book; this is as much a story about the creative process itself, or the function of genius, as it is about any particular product. Both personal and profound. Michael Gorras intense focus on a single work reflects his deep curiosity about this novel and displays his loving scrutiny of it. Gorras study, while keeping Incisive, informative and hugely entertaining. ... [N]ot only instructive and a pleasure to read, but (as Gorra doubtless intended) it also sends us back to James with a deeper appreciation for his literary technique, his painstaking approach to languagel3Æ