The Father: A Life of Henry James, Sr.

by Alfred Habegger

A biography of the passionate, contradictory father of William, Henry and Alice James. The author counters the popular view that Henry James, Sr. was a "benignant" man who devoted himself to the good of his children, preached tolerance, and practised self-effacement

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

600 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Alfred Habegger is professor emeritus in English at the University of Kansas, where he taught from 1966 until his retirement in 1996. He earned his BA at Bethel College in 1962 and his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1967.

Reviews

[Gayla Bassham · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I must say I never quite realized that Henry James, Sr., had a "benignant" reputation. My impression of him has been more "gigantic asshole who destroyed his daughter's life and also did his two younger sons no favors." Habegger offers a balanced and endlessly interesting account of the older James's life -- he was mercurial, brilliant, and incredibly difficult, and somehow two of his five children were among the finest minds of the late nineteenth century. (And what might Alice have been, in a different family?) I am becoming rapidly obsessed with the James family, so I found this book fascinating; if you have an interest in the time period or in the novels of Henry James, Jr., you may find it so as well.

[Frank Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Would that I was articulate enough to express this. Can't you start a sentence with would (or can't for that matter)? Seriously, this book has a lot of information about Henry James, Sr., and about his parents. The breadth of Henry James Sr.'s writing and thinking is clear. The author disagrees with all of the other sources on a few things, mainly minor, such as whether William James (the philosopher/psychologist) went to a certain school with some of his siblings. How Henry James, Sr, related to the women he knew is interesting. The details of his leg amputation are clear enough to make you feel faint at times, if you are faint at heart. The positive and negative effects on his children of how he parented them is discussed. If you are interested in the James family at all, this is an important read. It alerted me to some of Henry James Sr.'s books, at least one of which is available for free on Google books.