

A sufferable snob – The Complete Letters of Henry James - ableal
http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/A-sufferable-snob-8177

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ableal
Just as a note, I submitted this as 'But who will visit it? – The Complete
Letters of Henry James', because that question, taken from the tail end of the
piece, is actually more interesting than James himself.

Embarking on the publishing of 140 (one hundred and forty) volumes of the
letters of a middling literary figure is perhaps a sign of how much leisure we
have. Veblen would smile.

Now, if they could get around to important Nobel prize winning writers, like
Pearl S. Buck ...

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cafard
My irony detector does not function well on Monday mornings. You are serious
in considering Henry James a middling literary figure, Pearl Buck an important
one, and the Nobel a sound measure of literary achievement?

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ableal
I'll cop to pulling your leg on the last two items.

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cafard
Naughty you. I confess that a) I have never been able to fight my way through
_The Golden Bowl_ or _The Wings of the Dove_ , and that b) I can't imagine
that life, let only leisure, is long enough for 140 volumes of Henry James's
letter. Also, I wonder who in the world one would impress by reading them.

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ableal
It's kind of terrifying. Perhaps the no-death guys would be up for it: "Here
you go - eternal life. But first you have to read all 140 volumes of Henry
James letters. There will be a quiz."

