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The Jameses
Even if the James family hadn't given us both William the philosopher and psychologist, and Henry the novelist, the story of this quirky, wealthy, socially prominent clan would still be riveting. Full of incidents that would become legendary, The Jameses brings to life 150 years of unforgettable American history. Four 8-page inserts.
- GenresBiographyNonfiction
694 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
88 people want to read
About the author
R.W.B. Lewis
47 books12 followersRichard Warrington Baldwin Lewis was an American literary scholar and critic who won a Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography in 1976.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 8, 2022
I was walking down the street and saw a box of books with a sign stating that they were free. I picked through them, but for some reason, the only one that drew my attention was this. It was inexplicable, but I'll try. I first read Henry James in high school ("Turn of the Screw"), and I'd struggled through some of his books in the years since. I liked them, but also found them somewhat off-putting. The social mores of his time just never made sense to me, so it was always difficult to comprehend and value the plot developments or character motivations. And William James was also a name from high school -- from social studies classes where his was one of the names we seemed to need to know, for no other reason than that it would be on a test we would take one day and then forget forever.
The above, of course, is no reason to read a book, and so I didn't, for years. But the book still sat on my shelves, too hefty to carry around as a daily read, and too dry a subject to inspire me to make the effort. I don't really remember what changed, but I was living alone after years with roommates. The novelty of solitary living had worn off, and I was struggling with loneliness and a general malaise. My solution was structure -- rules. One of those rules was a set bedtime, with reading beforehand, and that seemed the perfect opportunity to tackle those books too large to leave the house.
Reading chair, reading lamp, cup of tea, and The James became the routine, and I made progress -- slow, but steady. But the routine faltered, from time to time, and those times became longer, and the book gathered dust. Sports dynasties rose and fell; political dynasties ... mostly fell. Weeks became months became years, until finally, pandemic. And once I'd reached the end of the streaming possibilities left to me, I picked up and polished off Lewis' narrative. Almost six years. I didn't read this book; I endured it.
And so now, finally, like the recipe for which you've had to endlessly scroll through some blogger's attempt to seem folksy in order to find, my actual review of the book. I ... liked it? In fairness, it's far too much material for a single book, as several of the family members could merit their own personal narrative, rather than being compressed into the narrative of their family. But on the other hand, a lot of the book's charm comes from the fact that Lewis seems more interested in writing about the interactions amongst the family members than their individual careers. Yes, he spends a lot of time discussing Henry Sr.'s philosophical ideas, Henry Jr.'s literary career, etc., but it is always in service of the moment when Lewis can troll through the archive of James family memorabilia and letters to explore the reactions of other family members to their own achievements.
And so, the book really is about the James family, rather than any of its individual members (although the Henrys (Senior and Junior) and William tend to hog the spotlight). It's a history of family trips, and gossip, and petty jealousies. The James' were a singular group of people, leaving behind a large amount of written material that manages to depict, even more than a century later, the real, human, personal relationships amongst them. Lewis has done more work than is probably warranted to sift through the archives in order to paint an insanely detailed portrait of the family.
And the end result for me? It's hard to say. Perhaps if I'd managed to read this in a single push, I'd value it more, but piecing it back together through the fog of a particularly chaotic half-decade, it hardly seems worth the effort (my fault, surely, rather than author or subject). I feel no more prepared to tackle Henry James' literary oeuvre, while the philosophy of Henry Sr. and William still seems like nothing more than a potential Jeopardy answer. I admire the depth of Lewis' research, and I enjoyed discovering the people hidden behind the dour photographs. But I also wish I'd left the book in the box on the street.
The above, of course, is no reason to read a book, and so I didn't, for years. But the book still sat on my shelves, too hefty to carry around as a daily read, and too dry a subject to inspire me to make the effort. I don't really remember what changed, but I was living alone after years with roommates. The novelty of solitary living had worn off, and I was struggling with loneliness and a general malaise. My solution was structure -- rules. One of those rules was a set bedtime, with reading beforehand, and that seemed the perfect opportunity to tackle those books too large to leave the house.
Reading chair, reading lamp, cup of tea, and The James became the routine, and I made progress -- slow, but steady. But the routine faltered, from time to time, and those times became longer, and the book gathered dust. Sports dynasties rose and fell; political dynasties ... mostly fell. Weeks became months became years, until finally, pandemic. And once I'd reached the end of the streaming possibilities left to me, I picked up and polished off Lewis' narrative. Almost six years. I didn't read this book; I endured it.
And so now, finally, like the recipe for which you've had to endlessly scroll through some blogger's attempt to seem folksy in order to find, my actual review of the book. I ... liked it? In fairness, it's far too much material for a single book, as several of the family members could merit their own personal narrative, rather than being compressed into the narrative of their family. But on the other hand, a lot of the book's charm comes from the fact that Lewis seems more interested in writing about the interactions amongst the family members than their individual careers. Yes, he spends a lot of time discussing Henry Sr.'s philosophical ideas, Henry Jr.'s literary career, etc., but it is always in service of the moment when Lewis can troll through the archive of James family memorabilia and letters to explore the reactions of other family members to their own achievements.
And so, the book really is about the James family, rather than any of its individual members (although the Henrys (Senior and Junior) and William tend to hog the spotlight). It's a history of family trips, and gossip, and petty jealousies. The James' were a singular group of people, leaving behind a large amount of written material that manages to depict, even more than a century later, the real, human, personal relationships amongst them. Lewis has done more work than is probably warranted to sift through the archives in order to paint an insanely detailed portrait of the family.
And the end result for me? It's hard to say. Perhaps if I'd managed to read this in a single push, I'd value it more, but piecing it back together through the fog of a particularly chaotic half-decade, it hardly seems worth the effort (my fault, surely, rather than author or subject). I feel no more prepared to tackle Henry James' literary oeuvre, while the philosophy of Henry Sr. and William still seems like nothing more than a potential Jeopardy answer. I admire the depth of Lewis' research, and I enjoyed discovering the people hidden behind the dour photographs. But I also wish I'd left the book in the box on the street.
November 16, 2021
A complete history of the extraordinary James family starting with William James of Albany, a self-made mogul who owned the village and salt mines of Syracuse, amidst many other ventures. He was probably the second wealthiest man in New York State, after John Jacob Aster. After his will was contested, each of 12 heirs got an annual annuity of around $12,500 per year (about $300,000 in today's money).
One of those heirs was Henry James, Senior, who essentially was freed from remunerative labor and spent his life in various religious and philosophical studies, while raising five children. The eldest of of them: William and Henry Jr. became superstars of their respective fields: psychology and literature. The other three children lived in their shadows: Garth Wilkinson, Robertson, and Alice.
While Lewis spends most of his time on William and Henry, Jr.'s troubles and eventual triumphs, he does his best, with far less documentation, to describe the toils and troubles of the other siblings. Even more astonishing he has traced all their heirs, as best he could, to the present day (1991). As such it's a fascinating look at the effects of having two such eminent men on the rest of the extended family. In doing his research on the heirs, Lewis developed relationships with the living Jameses, relying on them for much research material.
Whether it was those relationships or the more straight-laced time than today that seemed to have Lewis shy away from an exploration of Henry Jr.'s clearly gay orientation is unknown. It is interesting that despite his attraction to a number of men (including Hendrick Anderson, Morton Fullerton, Hugh Walpole, E.F. Benson, and Rupert Brooke) James wrote more extensively and convincingly about women than men. His women seem to have more complex psychologies than his men who often seem more stereotypical.
At 648 pages, plus notes, this biographical saga is probably too much for the casual reader. But for those who know Henry, Jr.'s literature and Williams' psychological works, it is a worthwhile study of how they became the extraordinary men they were and their effect on their extended family.
One of those heirs was Henry James, Senior, who essentially was freed from remunerative labor and spent his life in various religious and philosophical studies, while raising five children. The eldest of of them: William and Henry Jr. became superstars of their respective fields: psychology and literature. The other three children lived in their shadows: Garth Wilkinson, Robertson, and Alice.
While Lewis spends most of his time on William and Henry, Jr.'s troubles and eventual triumphs, he does his best, with far less documentation, to describe the toils and troubles of the other siblings. Even more astonishing he has traced all their heirs, as best he could, to the present day (1991). As such it's a fascinating look at the effects of having two such eminent men on the rest of the extended family. In doing his research on the heirs, Lewis developed relationships with the living Jameses, relying on them for much research material.
Whether it was those relationships or the more straight-laced time than today that seemed to have Lewis shy away from an exploration of Henry Jr.'s clearly gay orientation is unknown. It is interesting that despite his attraction to a number of men (including Hendrick Anderson, Morton Fullerton, Hugh Walpole, E.F. Benson, and Rupert Brooke) James wrote more extensively and convincingly about women than men. His women seem to have more complex psychologies than his men who often seem more stereotypical.
At 648 pages, plus notes, this biographical saga is probably too much for the casual reader. But for those who know Henry, Jr.'s literature and Williams' psychological works, it is a worthwhile study of how they became the extraordinary men they were and their effect on their extended family.
June 14, 2019
Read this book because I am interested in Henry James; great writer, premiere American novelist of the 19th cent. I knew very little about the rest of his family, except what I could gather from Leon Edel's superlative bio of Henry. It turns out a synopsis might take fewer than 50 pgs., minus the longueurs of this tedious book. Read it if you really need to know the depth of brother William's romantic vacillations and cringe-worthy love letters to his wife, or sister Alice's tragic neurasthenia, or brother Wilkie's traumatic wounding during the civil war, which the other James brothers managed to avoid due to their eccentric father's wealth. Very long, and rarely worth the effort.
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November 6, 2021Alice James is my favorite. Once she dies, I lost interest. I may pick it up again. So many good books.
January 12, 2018
Note: One of the many important pieces of information in The Jameses: A Family Narrative is the author’s account of the huge influence of Henry James’s grandfather on the James family of the next two generations, including Henry James himself and his brother William James, author of Pragmatism and other important books like The Varieties of Religious Experience.
The roots of indecision in the most notable members of the James family back to the haunting memory of William of Albany, the novelist’s grandfather. William was a towering example of American success in business and for the most part a coolly distant father to his son, Henry James Senior. Despite that emotional distance, however, the father was capable of rare bursts of compassion or vindictiveness which, much like those of his Calvinist God, depended on the behavior confronting him. Henry James Senior dealt with this confusing alternation of indifference and passion not by rejecting his father’s religion but by drastically altering it.
Henry Senior abandoned his studies for the Presbyterian ministry on the grounds that professional commitment to any organized religion forced one to sacrifice freedom of thought. Even more importantly, however, he passed through a devastating crisis that led him to doubt the worth of his very existence. Henry Senior emerged from this nearly suicidal state of mind by concluding that his life up to this time amounted to little more than self-love posing, like that of the Pharisees, as religiosity. True religion, he now believed, consisted in abandoning the self in favor of action for the good of others.
But this emptying out of selfhood conflicts with the decisiveness we associate with strength of personality. In the case of Henry Senior the tendency to indecision manifested itself in an inability to settle his family, including sons William James the philosopher and Henry James the novelist, in one home. Out of concern for the education of his children, he kept them moving around the eastern seaboard from New York City to New England and from America to England and Europe in search of suitable schools that he generally found inadequate. This early nomadic existence left the younger Henry James and especially his older brother William as unsettled in deciding their vocations in life as their father was in the choice of a home.
What is of greatest value in the work of all three of these men, however, is rooted in this very indecision. After his crisis of spirit Henry Senior led a constructive life of writing and lecturing on his theory of self-abandonment. His eldest son William, though advocating a strong sense of self in reaction against his father’s religious philosophy, nevertheless drew on Henry Senior’s recommendation of action over thought in developing the thoroughly American philosophy of pragmatism.
Similarly, William’s younger brother Henry was indebted to his father’s attack on egotism even as he rebelled against it. Central to his massive body of fiction is what R.W.B. Lewis calls his feeling for “the otherness” of the human situation—for the complexities of our engagement with others along with ourselves (The Jameses: A Family Narrative). But at the same time Henry James the novelist had a sense of self strong enough to decide on his literary vocation sooner than his brother William could decide on his as a philosopher.
It should be remembered, however, that the leisure to settle enjoyed by Henry Junior and his brother would hardly have been possible without the modest fortune their father inherited from his intolerably domineering father, William of Albany.
The roots of indecision in the most notable members of the James family back to the haunting memory of William of Albany, the novelist’s grandfather. William was a towering example of American success in business and for the most part a coolly distant father to his son, Henry James Senior. Despite that emotional distance, however, the father was capable of rare bursts of compassion or vindictiveness which, much like those of his Calvinist God, depended on the behavior confronting him. Henry James Senior dealt with this confusing alternation of indifference and passion not by rejecting his father’s religion but by drastically altering it.
Henry Senior abandoned his studies for the Presbyterian ministry on the grounds that professional commitment to any organized religion forced one to sacrifice freedom of thought. Even more importantly, however, he passed through a devastating crisis that led him to doubt the worth of his very existence. Henry Senior emerged from this nearly suicidal state of mind by concluding that his life up to this time amounted to little more than self-love posing, like that of the Pharisees, as religiosity. True religion, he now believed, consisted in abandoning the self in favor of action for the good of others.
But this emptying out of selfhood conflicts with the decisiveness we associate with strength of personality. In the case of Henry Senior the tendency to indecision manifested itself in an inability to settle his family, including sons William James the philosopher and Henry James the novelist, in one home. Out of concern for the education of his children, he kept them moving around the eastern seaboard from New York City to New England and from America to England and Europe in search of suitable schools that he generally found inadequate. This early nomadic existence left the younger Henry James and especially his older brother William as unsettled in deciding their vocations in life as their father was in the choice of a home.
What is of greatest value in the work of all three of these men, however, is rooted in this very indecision. After his crisis of spirit Henry Senior led a constructive life of writing and lecturing on his theory of self-abandonment. His eldest son William, though advocating a strong sense of self in reaction against his father’s religious philosophy, nevertheless drew on Henry Senior’s recommendation of action over thought in developing the thoroughly American philosophy of pragmatism.
Similarly, William’s younger brother Henry was indebted to his father’s attack on egotism even as he rebelled against it. Central to his massive body of fiction is what R.W.B. Lewis calls his feeling for “the otherness” of the human situation—for the complexities of our engagement with others along with ourselves (The Jameses: A Family Narrative). But at the same time Henry James the novelist had a sense of self strong enough to decide on his literary vocation sooner than his brother William could decide on his as a philosopher.
It should be remembered, however, that the leisure to settle enjoyed by Henry Junior and his brother would hardly have been possible without the modest fortune their father inherited from his intolerably domineering father, William of Albany.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews