Wednesday, March 28, 2012

The women

There were a series of women in James's life -- especially his sister, Minny Temple, Constance Fenimore Woolson -- who have a tremendous influence on his life and then meet with tragedy. And in each case, he seems to have failed them in some way that may have contributed to their deaths. What do you make of this?
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1 comment:

kc said...

Oh, that's a fantastic question. He seemed endlessly fascinated by the plight of various women in his fiction, but his sympathies didn't extend to making them triumphant in the end. Usually he seemed to champion them for a while, then let the world have its wicked way with them.

In his own life, it seemed like he was more comfortable around women in a way, but whenever they needed anything from him, no matter how small, he seemed to recoil. It's like he just wanted to be in their presence and observe how they moved through life but was horrified by the slightest emotional entanglement with them.

With his repressed sexuality he was kind of in an emotional wasteland. He couldn't bring himself to do the thing Oscar Wilde did: marry a woman and try for the appearance of "conventional" life. And he couldn't bring himself to pursue anything real with other men. He couldn't cope with either dishonesty or honesty.

2:34 PM, March 28, 2012

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