A Different James.

Having fought the good fight and seen The Turn of the Screw to its demise, I’ve now turned my attention to an earlier short story by Henry James called The Romance of Certain Old Clothes. It’s very different in style, being contemporaneous with the last years of Dickens, and much easier to read. In fact, Dickens is very much what it reminds me of stylistically, albeit with the odd American idiom splashed here and there to arrest the attention and require extended concentration.

What I’m finding a little surprising for an American story is the distinct – one might almost say indecent – whiff of Anglophilia which suffuses the piece from the very beginning. Take this sentence on page 1 for example:

The boy was of that fair and ruddy complexion and that athletic structure which in those days (as in these) were the sign of good English descent – a frank, affectionate young fellow, a deferential son, a patronising brother, a steadfast friend.

From that point on such unreserved obeisance is constantly made to the superiority of England and all things English that I, a typically reserved Englishman, find it mildly embarrassing. And bear in mind that this story is set in and close to Boston in the middle of the 18^th century. There’s been no mention of tea and tipping yet, but it’s greatly entertaining me so far. Reading on.