The Lesson of the Master

by Henry James

"You know as well as you sit there that you'd put a pistol-ball into your brain if you had written my books!"

Exemplifying Henry James's famous belief that "Art makes life," The Lesson of the Master is a piercing study of the life that art makes. When the tale's protagonist—a gifted young writer—meets and befriends a famous author he has long idolized, he is both repelled by and attracted to the artist's great the emotional costs of a life dedicated to art.

With extraordinary psychological insight and devastating wit, the novella asks the question of whether art is, ultimately, demeaning or ennobling for the artist, while capturing the ambiguities of a life devoted to art, and the choices artists must make. The expatriate James knew these choice well by the time he published the novella in the Universal Review in 1888, and the work reveals him at the height of his powers.

The Art of The Novella Series

Too short to be a novel, too long to be a short story, the novella is generally unrecognized by academics and publishers. Nonetheless, it is a form beloved and practiced by literature's greatest writers. In the Art Of The Novella series, Melville House celebrates this renegade art form and its practitioners with titles that are, in many instances, presented in book form for the first time.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Short Stories, American, Novella, Literature, Novels

100 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1888

About the author

Henry James was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the son of Henry James Sr. and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James.
He is best known for his novels dealing with the social and marital interplay between émigré Americans, the English, and continental Europeans, such as The Portrait of a Lady. His later works, such as The Ambassadors, The Wings of the Dove and The Golden Bowl were increasingly experimental. In describing the internal states of mind and social dynamics of his characters, James often wrote in a style in which ambiguous or contradictory motives and impressions were overlaid or juxtaposed in the discussion of a character's psyche. For their unique ambiguity, as well as for other aspects of their composition, his late works have been compared to Impressionist painting.
His novella The Turn of the Screw has garnered a reputation as the most analysed and ambiguous ghost story in the English language and remains his most widely adapted work in other media. He wrote other highly regarded ghost stories, such as "The Jolly Corner".
James published articles and books of criticism, travel, biography, autobiography, and plays. Born in the United States, James largely relocated to Europe as a young man, and eventually settled in England, becoming a British citizen in 1915, a year before his death. James was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911, 1912, and 1916. Jorge Luis Borges said "I have visited some literatures of East and West; I have compiled an encyclopedic compendium of fantastic literature; I have translated Kafka, Melville, and Bloy; I know of no stranger work than that of Henry James."

Reviews

[mark monday · Rating 3 out of 5]

Woman the Domesticator is the downfall of Man the Artist. try as he may, his anger and his insight and his vision, his credibility and his entire artistic sensibility will be degraded until he is a mere shadow of his once rigorous self. wife and children and safe, happy home shall all participate in the tragic dousing of his creative flame. they shall render him impotent, and he shall go smiling and content into his new, flaccid life. 'tis best to go it alone; the only true path to true art for the true artist is the lonely path of tortured self-reflection. at least per Henry James.

so yeah, James certainly comes across as repellently chauvinistic in this one. it's a pity, because all of the luscious Jamesian prose and wit, all of the rich Jamesian characterization, and even the trademark ironic Jamesian gut-punch at the end are there, in full force. "The Master" in this story is a great creation: canny and mordantly self-aware and almost villainous in his desire to 'free' a younger version of himself from the ties that bind. this novella was pure pleasure to read - as long as I carefully avoided digesting what it was trying to say to its readers.

I tried looking at its thesis in a different way. perhaps I could view his women as metaphors for things that pacify, all the warm comfy homeyness that make life easy and yet may be dulling and blinding to the artist whose life struggles may create a brilliant piece of art. there's truth in that, right?

I once fancied myself an artist, of sorts: there were long periods from my late teens to my mid-twenties when I felt that the only way I could get out all of these complicated ideas, these criticisms and different ways of looking at the world, these fountains of angsty energy, was to write them down as stories and personal narratives, or to get behind a camera and turn my ideas into short, weird films. I'm not sure I was "struggling" back then, in the purest sense of the word, but I certainly lived paycheck to paycheck (or grant disbursement to grant disbursement), in cheap apartments with too many people, living a life that was intense and full of a sort of anarchy, an unpredictable wildness. that's long over. these days my main feeling about my life is contentment; I no longer have that driving need to create, to define myself and put myself out in the world through art. what happened to me? sad to say, I scarcely feel the loss.

looking at the tale through that lens - turning "Woman" into anything that makes an artist complacent - certainly allowed me to connect with it on a deeper, less reactive level. but alas! in the end, I know I am fooling myself. by the end of the novella, it is clear that James' portrait of a lady is not intended to be an elastic metaphor. it has two women: one who drains the creative essence out of a Master of the written word, and another who - as charming and sympathetic as she is in the moment - would eventually, inevitably do the same to a younger writer, unless The Master does something about it. spoiler: he does.





11 of 16 in Sixteen Short Novels.

[Justin Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

"So, MFA class, what did you think of this?"
"Well, I don't like how he starts it. I mean, we don't really get to know Paul Overt very much, right, and those first few sentences are just so confusing. I mean, who is this guy? Why should I care about him?"
"This strikes me as a bit, I don't know, it's kind of sexist. Like, why can't you have Miss Fancourt take control of her own destiny, because she seems right now like she's just waiting for someone to propose to her."
"You shouldn't write about writers, I think."
"Also, it's like, the lesson of the master seems to be that women get in the way of artistic genius. Is it meant to be homoerotic? I just can't relate to someone who doesn't care about sex. But then, it's also kind of sexist, as if women are just getting in the way of good writing. Unless good writing is a metaphor for gay sex? Is that what you're after?"

And so on; I've had bad experiences with MFA fiction over the last couple of weeks, and this is a glorious breath of pre-Hemingwayan competence, subtlety, and ambiguity. Also, great length for an afternoon's read.

And since I am not Henry James, I should say the lesson of the master really is completely ambiguous. Those who favor a simplistic interpretation of it are interpreting themselves, not the text.

[Tahani Shihab · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[piperitapitta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un colpo di stiletto

Perfido, meraviglioso, Henry James.
Nonostante il finale sia prevedibile e non giunga inatteso, nonostante il rapporto fra i due scrittori protagonisti della novella - il giovane promettente Paul Overt e l'affermato Henry St. George - li ponga a confronto e da subito in antitesi sotto ogni punto di vista, nonostante tutto (dati cause e pretesti?) il finale colpisce come una stilettata inferta a sorpresa: come un colpo scoccato alla luce del sole e al tempo stesso a tradimento.
Per il resto, non volendo anticipare nulla della trama, non posso che copiare e incollare quello che avevo scritto qualche tempo fa a proposito di un'altra novella di Henry James:

Ogni volta che inizio a leggere Henry James mi sembra di essere appena entrata in uno di quei giardini labirinto che si aprono misteriosi nelle ville nobiliari dei secoli scorsi.
Una prosa sempre elegante, ricca di deviazioni e bivi, una maniera mai frontale di raccontare le storie; arabeschi e viottoli, siepi e fronde, costringono il lettore a perdersi nei suoi meandri, a toccare le piante e ascoltarne il profumo per cercare, guardando attraverso, di trovare l'uscita.
Attese, sospensioni, circonvoluzioni linguistiche, tutto concorre a rendere la prosa di Henry James una lingua viva, ricca, palpitante di vita.
Amo perdermi in questi labirinti, amo scoprire che la verità più bella, a volte, è quella che si disvela lentamente.

[منال الندابي · Rating 5 out of 5]

عملٌ عظيم عظيم عظيم!
كتاب صغير وخفيف ولكن الدرس الذي بين دفتّيه بالغ الفداحة!
من الأعمال الرائعة التي تتناول الفن والأدب والفنّان والإنسان والمجتمع والحياة وانسجام كل هذه "المُتضادات" -حسب نظرة سانت جورج- في قالبٍ بالغ الشفافية والغموض في ذات الوقت.

أما عن الترجمة، ماذا عساي أن أقول؟ لا أستطيع أن أتخيّل أن يتناول أحدهم مشروع كلاسيكي لهنري جيمس ببراعةٍ تفوق ما قام به المُترجم يزن الحاج. كنتُ مبهورة باتساق الترجمة مع الأسلوب الكلاسيكي المعروف للكاتب المغمور، كما لو أن اللغتان اتحدتا في شكلٍ بالغ الروعة لتصل إلينا هذه التُحفة الأدبية بالكمال الذي هي عليه.

[Huda Akwyed · Rating 2 out of 5]

تتحدث الرواية عن شاب بول أوفرت كاتب روائي يعيش في لندن حيث مجريات الأحداث حيث يلتقي بالشابة الآنسة فانكورت و يعجب بذكائها و تميزها بعفويتها و لكن عدة نصائح من المعلم هنري سانت جورج الكاتب الروائي الشهير و المعروف و الذي كان الشاب بول مبهور به و بما طرحه من كتبه... تأخذ نصائح المعلم الشاب بول إلى ترك الشابة فانكورت و القيام بجولة في مدن أوربا ليعود مع صدمة و درس لكن قاسي من الحياة و المعلم .
الرواية في بدايته مملة نوع ما و رتيبة لكن في النهاية تأخذك الأحداث إلى منحى ثاني .

[Nente · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a question, not an answer, and it is a good question to think upon, everyone coming to their own decision.
While James uses this story to discuss the age-old maxim of "the artist should be hungry," there's no need to take the opinions of his fictional heroes for his own. Don't we know that St. George had an ulterior motive?
Moreover, the author markedly refrains from telling us the issue of the point: whose works are better, lone genius or comfortable and loved man of the world? We don't know how Paul's new novel fared, we don't know if St. George published again.
And, considering that Henry James himself didn't marry for quite another reason - I just couldn't see this as an indictment of domesticity of women in general.




And in case anyone is interested in my own opinion, having nothing to do with the story except the great question, here it is. I think no one at all can live at the pure artistic heights for any appreciable time. If, on coming back down, the artist meets comfort and warmth, (s)he has a chance to get back their strength, and then to go back - or not. It's simply the question of how driven (s)he is. If there's no comfort, why then (s)he can die young and join the Dead Heroes. Pick for yourself which is better.
Also the creative part of one's soul doesn't always age well, which might have been the other reason in this story.

[Sofia Msellek · Rating 3 out of 5]

رائع بحق ، وماأدهشني تنسيقه للأحداث فيما يشدّني على مهل ليصنع دهشة في اللحظات الأخيرة على غير توقع ، نوع جديد من الكتب ، سحر يتوغّل فيك بصمت، ستتابع وتضع الكتاب جانباً مرة ، و تشعر بالضجر مرة، لأنّ التفاصيل لم تظهر لك وجه الحكاية بعد ، ولا شيء استثنائي، ولكنّك مشدود مع ذلك و لا تدري كيف و لماذا ، يسرقك سحر ما في الكتاب باطني ، كفتيلة تركّز على اشتعالها وتنسى أنّها ما إن تطفأ حتى يعلو دخّانها المكان ويتمكّن من أرجاءك كلّها، كتاب تمكّن منّي ، سحره عجيب، أدهشني بحق، وهكذا صرت متيقنة أكثر أن لكل كتاب سحره الخاص ، فقط عليك أن تتابع بصبر كريم، ولا تضع آمالاً قد تصدمك في النهاية بأي كتاب سواء كانت كبيرة أو صغيرة..!

[مُحمَّد المَاجِري]

لمْ أستطعْ أنْ أكمله.

[sigurd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Henry James, uno dei miei scrittori preferiti, si spense a Londra nel 1916. Quest’anno ricorrono i cento anni dalla morte, e l’Adelphi l’ha omaggiato (avrebbero dovuto farlo in realtà altre case editrici) con la pubblicazione di uno dei suoi racconti più belli: The Lesson of the Master(La lezione del Maestro).
La storia è quella di un giovane scrittore, Paul Overt, che incontra in un ricevimento il suo idolo letterario (il «Maestro» del titolo), Herny St. George, uno scrittore in decadenza, che vive con sua moglie in un mondo di agi e apparenze. Allo stesso ricevimento, incontra anche una delicata e radiosa ragazza, che lo ammira, e di cui lui finisce per innamorarsi, ricambiato. Quando il Maestro però gli intima i pericoli del matrimonio sul suo lavoro creativo, al giovane scrittore non resta che ubbidire al consiglio, far i bagagli, allontanarsi dalle tentazioni mondane per raggiungere quella "degna perfezione" a cui il Maestro lo vede votato. Ma quando ritornerà a Londra, la situazione che gli si presenta davanti, lo porterà a riflettere sulla natura di quel consiglio. Natura che, manco a dirlo, James non ci farà scoprire mai.

Ricordo sempre le parole che James disse poco prima di spegnersi: “Adesso, finalmente, questa cosa distinta, la morte”. Questo perché la letteratura di Henry James fa dell’indistinto la sua cifra; è una letteratura delle possibilità, ambigua, simultanea. Tutto nei suoi racconti, apparentemente stiracchiati in una prosa un po’ classicheggiante e tortuosa, apparentemente superficiali e avvolti in un’atmosfera fumosa, è frutto di un calcolo studiato al tavolino dell’arte. I suoi taccuini abbondano di situazioni ambigue, sviscerate con perizia. Ai più, questo macchinoso effetto, dalle tinte talvolta drammatiche, questa lenta costruzione di trame ordite sul filo di lana caprina, non piace. Esemplificativa la caricatura che Wells (ingiustamente e ingratamente) gli fece, paragonandolo a un ippopotamo in una gabbia che si sforza di raccogliere un pisello caduto in un angolino. Ci sono poi quelli che, come me, ne sono ammirati; dei giovani Paul Overt pronti a seguire i consigli del Maestro. 

Io non credo che l’ambiguità della situazioni fosse solo un vezzo artistico, un procedimento letterario caro a James. Io credo che nella disperante scelta del vivere nonostante il dubbio, nonostante la mancanza di punti di riferimento, si nasconda l’apice drammaturgico novecentesco e di tutta la letteratura teologica. Come Browning nella sua poesia sul cieco amore, così Henry James, al colmo della mestizia, esclama: “Disperatamente devi imparare/ come continuare a vivere/ nonostante la tomba di tuo figlio sia imprecisabile”.
E non conosco modo più efficace per rendere undefined.
Questo participio caro a Henry James.

[Adrian Alvarez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my introduction to Henry James and certainly the beginning of a long relationship. The balance of ornate prose, confident narrative structure, and lovely empathy for his characters makes this one of the best pieces of fiction I have ever read. The plot is important, and it drives the work from beginning to end but what is so extraordinary is that it hinges of the reader's empathy to convey its point. On the surface, it could be told as a vaguely mean story about a young man duped, but compounded with James' grace the story lifts off into a serious meditation on the power discourse underlying celebrity, pedagogy, and the creation of art under capitalist conditions. There is so much to say about this expert piece of fiction (and so much of it lofty) yet the experience of reading was as thrilling as ever.

I highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend this to anyone, especially if you haven't read anything by Henry James. I'm utterly floored.

[ريمي · Rating 2 out of 5]

درس المعلم
رواية ذات عنوان جذاب، تقييمها عالٍ، وامتدحها كثير من القراء، ولم أجد أي تعليق سلبي عليها ..
هذه الأسباب جعلتني أبحث عن الرواية في المكاتب، وجميع محاولاتي باءت بالفشل، ثم حصلت على نسختي أخيرًا بعد طول انتظار، وليته لم يحصل .
لم تعجبني الرواية إطلاقًا، ولكي أكون أكثر صدقًا، لم يعجبني فيها سوى شيئين : علاقة الفتى "پول" بمعلمه، ووصف الكاتب الجبار لماريان فرانكوت، وما عدا ذلك فهو عادي، بل يميل إلى السوء .
أما المترجم فلم يراعِ كوننا مسلمين، ولم يستغنِ عن صيغ الحلف بغير الله المتنوعة، على الرغم من أنه لن يتغير المعنى إن استبدلها بحلفٍ طبيعي، بالإضافة إلى أنه لم يتخلَّ عن المفردة الأجنبية "ياه" ففقد وردت في جملٍ عدة، مما أعطى الرواية طابعًا سخيفًا (: ، لذا لن أجحف بحقها إذا قلت بأن الترجمة كانت ركيكة .

[Arancha Ch. Gonzalez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Como no podía ser de otra forma, Henry James nos da una lección magistral con su literatura. En este libro corto, nos deja bien claro como sabe más el diablo por viejo que por diablo, de un modo sutil y con la elegancia que siempre va implícita en sus letras. Sin duda un 5/5 y porque no hay más.

[Meltem Sağlam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Her zamanki gibi son derece etkileyici betimlemeler ve değerli fikirler ile dolu, birisi tecrübeli iki yazarın bakış açısından yazma eyleminin aşamaları, amacı ve sonuçları üzerine tartışmaların, kadınların özgürlüğü, bağımsızlığı üzerine pasajların yer aldığı bir Daisy Miller hikayesi.

Güzel çevirinin de etkisini hissettiğim, harika bir kısa roman.

[Amaranta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un racconto magistrale per James, tagliente e di grande effetto.
Una lezione che il nostro giovane protagonista difficilmente dimenticherà perché brucia a fuoco sulla sua pelle.
Trovo che James nei racconti più o meno lunghi abbia una forza e un’incisività che annichilisce. Fa rimanere il lettore pietrificato. E la reazione è: ne voglio ancora.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me gusta Henry James. Tengo un puñado de escritores que me enseñaron a leer. No me refiero a nociones de educación básica. Hablo de que me mostraron todas las posibilidades, todo el universo que se concibe en cada historia. Todo lo que se puede leer entre líneas. Lo que se narra más allá de los diálogos. Esta historia confirma mi predilección por el autor.

"Se había hundido en el sofá, donde yacío durante horas, con los ojos cerrados, o bien contemplando la penumbra, en la actitud de un hombre que está enseñándose a sí mismo a soportar algo, a soportar que se lo ponga en ridículo".

[Ali Alkhuzai · Rating 2 out of 5]

رواية محبوكة جيدا متداخلة الاحداث بين المعلم الكاتب المعروف وبين من يبدأ الكتابة ويريد أن يأخذ النصائح منه وينتهي بحب الفتاة التي ايضا تحب الادب وتقرأ كثيرا حتى ان الكاتب الشاب يتعلق بها وفي النهاية تختار طريقا اخر غير طريقه هو.
في هذه الرواية نأخذ درسا ان ليس كل مايصدر عن المعلم يناسب المتعلم او يسير في طريقة ينبغي للمتعلم ايضا ان يكتشف الطرق المبهمة بنفسه.

[ناديا]

ولااااااااا نجمة !

كونه من ترشيحات ومفضلات بورخيس لايعني ابدا ان يعجبني !

بورخيس ، ميسكلياني ويزن الحاج ثلاثية مشجعة ولكن لم تفعل مفعول السحر للاسف

ولا أي قيمة مضافة! ولا متعة بالحكاية

[Chris Waterford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Persevering with this story brought me an unexpected pleasure---the second half opened up to a delightful short story with a twist in the tale.

[Ana · Rating 2 out of 5]

A pompous wannabe artist is advised by a passé writer, the master, to avoid marriage to a woman he admires in order to write without the constraints of domesticity. Neither of them care about what the young lady has to say on the matter so we're lead to believe that the novella asks if artists should live solely for their art or to balance it out with real life, but that's all bull in my opinion. It's really the story about how an older man tricked the younger person and steals his love interest while convincing himself that he did it for his protege safe and future artistic greateness

[Graychin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I generally can’t bear to hear artists talk about their art as if it were the only or most valuable thing in the world. Better, in my opinion, to love well those whom you are given to love, and to strive to live an examined life. But the “lesson” here is more complicated than at first appears. The moral, perhaps, is that total dedication to art is a kind of vivisection of the heart.

“She’s first-rate herself and expends herself on the second-rate. She’s life herself and she takes a rare interest in imitations.”

[عهود المخيني · Rating 5 out of 5]

إن أردتُ وصفَ الكتاب ببساطة لا تُنقصه حقه: فهو كتابٌ أصيلٌ. كلُّهُ درس لقطات . أتعرف جنس الروايات التي تجعلُك تبتسمُ في سيرها؟ بوداعة هكذا، للقطاتها المغرقة في الفن وحساسيته، لأنها تغصُّ به وفيه، على نحو معقدٍ، كفكرةِ أن تنشدَ الكمالَ في الفن.
كنت أبتسم مع بول، حتى في غصته. هذه رواية تشف عن العظمة وشبهها، عن الثقة ونقيضها والبيني بين النفس وصاحبها. وهذا أول دروس نيسان :)

[Ben Loory · Rating 2 out of 5]

i love henry james but... not this one. bald and obvious and tiresome. AND NO GHOSTS

[Ebtihal Salman · Rating 2 out of 5]

حرب باردة بين رجلين على امرأة. مملة ولكن الانقلاب الدرامي الساخر في النهاية شفع لها للنجمة الثانية.

[Mariano Cascio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Retomando algunas de las perlas que ofrece la editorial de Melville House, ciertamente la categoría de "The Art of the Novella" es para tener siempre presente a la hora de querer disfrutar una placentera lectura de tarde.
La novella cuenta la historia de un joven escritor, Paul Overt, que conoce a Henry St. George, un famoso novelista al que Overt admira. Durante ese tiempo, Overt también conoce y se enamora de Marian Fancourt, una joven que admira tanto el trabajo de St. George como el de Overt.
James teje un vínculo entre los dos escritores con la intuición de un hombre que conoce muy bien ambos lados, habiendo pasado por ambas fases él mismo.
Mediante prosa exquisita en conjunto con una narrativa impecable, "The Lesson of the Master" vuelve a reiterar la importancia de Henry James en el mundo literario de la mas fina ficción.

[Sazi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fucked. DO NOT READ.

[Paola Valiente · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definición de manipulador:

[Lorena Vides Galiano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pobre de Paul que no tendrá la dicha terrenal, ni conocerá alguna eterna. Pobre del artista que no tuvo otro destino más que la miseria. ¡Y dichoso sea Mr. St. George al lado de la hermosa Miss Fancourt leyendo a Paul con gusto mientras disfruta de un exquisito té en su lujoso salón!

[Alysia · Rating 2 out of 5]

While initially interesting this story dragged towards the end. The 'strong' Paul Ortel is really just a whimpering weak willed lackey who follows St. George's advice. And what great advice it is! Women only hinder art because as the weaker sex we cannot fully understand and nurture it. What a load of misogynistic drivel. Essentially a work of deep navel gazing about the literary world. Not my cup of tea.

[Tabuyo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Aunque no me disgustó del todo reconozco que en algunas partes se me hizo un poco denso. Mi reseña: http://contandoteunlibro.blogspot.com...