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Selected Tales (Penguin Classics)
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Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Author: Henry James
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Average Customer Rating:
Our Price: $11.25
You Save: $ 3.75 ( 25% )
Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Author: Henry James
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Average Customer Rating:
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Selected Tales (Penguin Classics) Description
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.4
EAN: 9780140436945
ISBN: 0140436944
Label: Penguin Classics
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 704
Publication Date: 2001-10-01
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Product Release Date: 2001-08-28
Studio: Penguin Classics
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.4
EAN: 9780140436945
ISBN: 0140436944
Label: Penguin Classics
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 704
Publication Date: 2001-10-01
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Product Release Date: 2001-08-28
Studio: Penguin Classics
Editorial Review of Selected Tales (Penguin Classics)
Throughout his writing life, Henry James was drawn to the short-story form for the freedom it offered him-and he made the genre his own. This new selection comprises both brief tales and longer works that explore James's concerns with the old world and the new, and with money, fame, class, and art. "Daisy Miller," "The Lesson of the Master," "The Real Thing," "The Figure in the Carpet," "In the Cage," "The Beast in the Jungle," and "The Jolly Corner" are included here, along with twelve others. Haunting, witty, and beautifully drawn, these stories are as rich and resonant as James's novels.
Edited with an introduction by John Lyon.
Edited with an introduction by John Lyon.
Customer Reviews of Selected Tales (Penguin Classics)
Customer Rating: 
Review Summary: Brilliant but dense
Review: I'll start with the reason why I didn't give it 5 stars. This is the only work by James that I read and I found it to be incredibly dense, the language he uses, the imagery, allusions and devices he employs make for an incredibly difficult read. I've read some allegedly dense books in my time but his style takes the cake - I simply found myself skipping at least 2 of the stories in this collection because I just became utterly lost and bored. Of course there's a great chance that I'm the dense one.
On the plus side, James is incredible at creating worlds that explore the social and psychological dimensions, in a deeper way than almost any writer I've encountered. We see the contradictions, cruelty and sublimity of the human mind like never before. James is concerned largely with occurences in "polite" society, although the clash between this world and the general world sometimes forms the basis of a masterful story like In The Cage. The other thing I adored was his self-referentiality. So many of his celebrated long short stories are about fiction and about stories or the writing process. James is also the master of frustration: his best stories often focus around some secret or Grand Truth that's never revealed to the reader. We are resigned to the sidelines, watching the reflexions (James's spelling!) of the greater picture. But this makes his stories more appealing, not less, and turns them into classics.
I heartily recommend it to anyone who has the patience to delve into this immensely rich world of character and feeling.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: If you're cruising for gay Henry, this is the place to go...
Review: This great selection of James's tales includes several of his widely-anthologized and well-known stories as well as the brilliant but little-known novella "In The Cage." Perhaps more interestingly, readers searching for the James stories that Gay Studies scholars are always referencing will also find many of them here: "The Figure in the Carpet," "The Pupil," "The Middle Years", and others. If you're cruising for gay Henry, if you want to find the figure so carefully woven in the Master's carpet, this selection is the place to go.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: The master at work
Review: Henry James is one of the world's greatest masters of the long short story. The stories share many qualities with the great novels. They are often tales of consciousness and perception in which the heart of the action is in the mind's dramatic interaction with its experience of other characters. The language has complication and parenthetical grace. There is a consummate artistry and composition and the works build to their climax in a revelation of sudden perception and clarity. The fundamental feeling may be of a frustration in life which is somehow transcended by the power of Art.
Reading these stories is coming into touch with one of the first class minds of world - literature.
Review Summary: Brilliant but dense
Review: I'll start with the reason why I didn't give it 5 stars. This is the only work by James that I read and I found it to be incredibly dense, the language he uses, the imagery, allusions and devices he employs make for an incredibly difficult read. I've read some allegedly dense books in my time but his style takes the cake - I simply found myself skipping at least 2 of the stories in this collection because I just became utterly lost and bored. Of course there's a great chance that I'm the dense one.
On the plus side, James is incredible at creating worlds that explore the social and psychological dimensions, in a deeper way than almost any writer I've encountered. We see the contradictions, cruelty and sublimity of the human mind like never before. James is concerned largely with occurences in "polite" society, although the clash between this world and the general world sometimes forms the basis of a masterful story like In The Cage. The other thing I adored was his self-referentiality. So many of his celebrated long short stories are about fiction and about stories or the writing process. James is also the master of frustration: his best stories often focus around some secret or Grand Truth that's never revealed to the reader. We are resigned to the sidelines, watching the reflexions (James's spelling!) of the greater picture. But this makes his stories more appealing, not less, and turns them into classics.
I heartily recommend it to anyone who has the patience to delve into this immensely rich world of character and feeling.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: If you're cruising for gay Henry, this is the place to go...
Review: This great selection of James's tales includes several of his widely-anthologized and well-known stories as well as the brilliant but little-known novella "In The Cage." Perhaps more interestingly, readers searching for the James stories that Gay Studies scholars are always referencing will also find many of them here: "The Figure in the Carpet," "The Pupil," "The Middle Years", and others. If you're cruising for gay Henry, if you want to find the figure so carefully woven in the Master's carpet, this selection is the place to go.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: The master at work
Review: Henry James is one of the world's greatest masters of the long short story. The stories share many qualities with the great novels. They are often tales of consciousness and perception in which the heart of the action is in the mind's dramatic interaction with its experience of other characters. The language has complication and parenthetical grace. There is a consummate artistry and composition and the works build to their climax in a revelation of sudden perception and clarity. The fundamental feeling may be of a frustration in life which is somehow transcended by the power of Art.
Reading these stories is coming into touch with one of the first class minds of world - literature.