LESSONS OF THE MASTER

Abstract

Sergio Perosa, ed. Henry James e Venezia. Firenze: Leo S. Olschki, 1987. viii + 278 pp. Leon Edel and Adeline R. Tintner, eds. The Library of Henry James. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1987. ix + 106 pp. Illus. Adeline R. Tintner. The Book World of Henry James: Appropriating the Classics. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1987. xxiv + 412 pp. Illus. Adeline R. Tintner. The Museum World of Henry James. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1986. xxi + 390 pp. Illus. William R. MacNaughton. Henry James: The Later Novels. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1987. 154 pp. Lyall H. Powers, ed. Leon Edel and Literary Art. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1988. xiv + 192 pp. Illus. In his essay in Henry James e Venezia, James Tuttleton rightly notes that, in 1882, James, having written, "There is notoriously nothing more to be said on the subject [of Venice]," then went on to write 12,000 words of additional commen- tary (49). James always had more to say, and so, it appears, do his commentators. There are many reasons for this continuing spate of commentary, but chief among them must be the ultimate felicity of James's style. He not only graced everything that he wrote about: in the gracing he also changed it—made it different for all subsequent readers.