Terminations: The Death of the Lion, the Coxon Fund, the Middle Years, the Altar of the Dead - Couverture souple

James, Henry

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1430479515 ISBN 13 : 9781430479512

Editeur : Kessinger Publishing Co, 2007

Synopsis

Terminations is a collection of four short stories by the renowned American author, Henry James. The stories included in this book are The Death of the Lion, The Coxon Fund, The Middle Years, and The Altar of the Dead. In The Death of the Lion, James explores the theme of celebrity and the impact it has on individuals. The story follows the life of a successful writer who suddenly dies, leaving behind a legacy that his friends and colleagues struggle to come to terms with. The Coxon Fund is a story about a man who inherits a large sum of money and decides to use it to fund a scientific experiment. The story examines the relationship between science and art and the conflict that arises when the two are pitted against each other. The Middle Years is a deeply introspective story that follows the life of a middle-aged writer who feels that his best years are behind him. The story explores themes of aging and the fear of mortality, as the protagonist struggles to come to terms with his own mortality. Finally, The Altar of the Dead is a haunting story about a man who creates a shrine to the memory of his deceased loved ones. The story examines the themes of grief and loss, as the protagonist grapples with the idea of death and the afterlife. Overall, Terminations is a thought-provoking collection of stories that explore complex themes and emotions. James' masterful use of language and his ability to delve deep into the human psyche make this book a must-read for fans of classic literature.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

THE appearance of Terminations will in no way shake the general belief in Mr. Henry James’s accomplished touch and command of material. On the contrary, it confirms conclusions long since foregone, and will increase the respect of his readers. Only one of the four stories in the volume sees the light for the first time, ‘The Altar of the Dead.’ ‘The Death of the Lion,’ ‘The Coxon Fund,’ and ‘The Middle Years’ have already appeared elsewhere. In spite of his usual but singular mastery of phrase, suggestion, and minute analysis, there is, as usual, a super-added note of hesitancy, doubt, and uncertainty. It is as though Mr. James, whatever his effect on his readers may be, was never quite pleased with himself; as though throughout his varied and wonderful effects he himself remained the inexorable unsatisfied judge of his own work. In conception and execution ‘The Altar of the Dead’ stamps itself as very peculiarly his. Scarce any other contemporary man of letters could have brought the same qualities to bear in like degree and proportion, or bestowed the rare and delicate handling he has lavished on this picture of the isolation of two souls. If it at all fail of its full effect, we need not dwell on shortcomings to which the author is himself far more keenly alive than we can be. The human interest may be at times slightly thin and impalpable, but it is not for that unsympathetic nor unbeautiful. The reasons for poor Stransom’s cult of the dead are natural accidents, such as death, estrangement, oblivion—abundantly human, and of the stuff of which life is woven. Acute discrimination and expression are throughout mingled with a half-perverse air of subtlety and remoteness that sets Mr. James (author of ‘Daisy Miller' though he be!) entirely apart from the heartier and more robust forms of human motive and desire. ‘The Coxon Fund’ is the one of the four stories that reaches most often, perhaps, the highest point of his inordinate cleverness. A part of it is, however, shrouded in a haze of obscurity, with certain baffling indications of a something moving below the surface that is perpetually grasped at, but never once brought quite to the surface. This submerged and elusive consciousness that is not exactly sentiment and is certainly not incident) is never suffered to emerge clearly nor yet to sink completely. The consequence is the reader, and we suspect the writer also, experience a sense of strain and effort, though confronted with many most amusing and happy effects. With such passages of trenchant wit and sparkling observation, surely in his best manner, Mr. James ought to be as satisfied as his readers cannot fail to be. The relations between the admiring disciple and the accomplished master have often been used by him in fiction. Two of the stories are based on this favourite motive; in each, of course, the situation and treatment are entirely different. ‘The Death of the Lion’ and ‘The Coxon Fund’ are concerned with the intrusion of “fashionables” into the sphere of what was once called “literary circles.” Mr. James is keenly alive to the jarring of incongruous temperaments, and the humorous and sometimes pathetic misapprehensions and misappreciations that follow on a mixture of opposing elements.

— The Athenaeum

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Kessinger Publishing Co
• Date d'édition: 2007
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1430479515
• ISBN 13: 9781430479512
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 252
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
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