To: presidio9
I've never understood the appeal of Hawthorne's starchy prose and tin ear for dialogue. If Henry James hadn't propped him up at the right time I wonder if he would be remembered at all.
2 posted on
06/27/2006 8:10:49 AM PDT by
Borges
To: Borges
"Our finest lady writer." - Ezra Pound on Henry James
5 posted on
06/27/2006 8:12:44 AM PDT by
wideawake
("The nation which forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten." - Calvin Coolidge)
To: Borges
Oh, come on, don't be so hard on the poor guy.
Some of his short stories are excellent. He writes in the language of his time . . . my great grandmother's ordinary speech was far more flowery than acceptable today . . . and she was just a small town Southern girl. Another writer who tends to florid idiom is Lafcadio Hearn, but if you refuse to read him on that ground, you miss some great stuff.
And, BTW, I can't STAND Henry James.
7 posted on
06/27/2006 8:14:19 AM PDT by
AnAmericanMother
((Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment)))
To: Borges
I've never understood the appeal of Hawthorne's starchy prose and tin ear for dialogue. If Henry James hadn't propped him up at the right time I wonder if he would be remembered at all. Sort of like James Joyce, his "Ulysses"(sp?) dribble, and the push,push,push, I'm-gonna-make-you-a-literary-giant-whether-you-like-it-or-not-damnit!-so-sobber-up! patroness Peggy Guggenheim.
19 posted on
06/27/2006 8:23:01 AM PDT by
yankeedame
("Oh, I can take it but I'd much rather dish it out.")
To: Borges
"Young Goodman Browne", "The Celestical Railroad" is "starchy"? (sp?..been a while) Explain "starchy".
33 posted on
06/27/2006 8:46:34 AM PDT by
bkepley
To: Borges
Humans do the dumbest things; reuniting skeletons? To what end?
54 posted on
06/27/2006 10:47:28 AM PDT by
Old Professer
(The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, and writes again.)
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