Those irresistible, profoundly moving, life altering…
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Those irresistible, profoundly moving, life altering epiphanies from "The Beast in the Jungle" and "The Dead"
If there is a more powerful directive and warning flare than the realization that appears in the closing pages of Henry James's "The Beast in the Jungle," I have not read it. As someone in middle age, I am confident in saying that no work of literature has moved me like John Marcher's dreadful coming to terms.
What's so powerful about 'Beast' is that I went into it blind and had no idea what the story was going to be about. I would recommend you do the same. It is a somewhat difficult read at first but you slowly get into the rhythms of James's strange brain. You think nothing much is happening until ...\*\*POW\*\*... *that sentence* appears. Anyone who's read and loved this story knows the one I'm talking about.
In my 20s I felt the same awe for Joyce's "The Dead," which also features a poignant scenario that is punctuated by the appearance of a "vague terror." In the case of Gabriel Conroy, it is coming to grips with a certain "vindictive being." The more I read James the more I see his influence on Joyce. (Did you know that Joyce titled *Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man* after *The Portrait of a Lady*? Did you know James is parodied in *Ulysses?*)
In fact, anyone who has read my favorite novel *The Wings of the Dove* will spot a direct connection between Milly Theale and Michael Furey of "The Dead." It's obvious to me that Joyce relished James and read him closely. Yet somehow the two writers are rarely linked, but **henryJAMESjoyce** would look cool on a t-shirt.
Feel free to give your thoughts on these stories or share your own favorite works that include a world-stopping epiphany. But keep us in suspense and don't reveal what it is.
#entertainment
source
If there is a more powerful directive and warning flare than the realization that appears in the closing pages of Henry James's "The Beast in the Jungle," I have not read it. As someone in middle age, I am confident in saying that no work of literature has moved me like John Marcher's dreadful coming to terms.
What's so powerful about 'Beast' is that I went into it blind and had no idea what the story was going to be about. I would recommend you do the same. It is a somewhat difficult read at first but you slowly get into the rhythms of James's strange brain. You think nothing much is happening until ...\*\*POW\*\*... *that sentence* appears. Anyone who's read and loved this story knows the one I'm talking about.
In my 20s I felt the same awe for Joyce's "The Dead," which also features a poignant scenario that is punctuated by the appearance of a "vague terror." In the case of Gabriel Conroy, it is coming to grips with a certain "vindictive being." The more I read James the more I see his influence on Joyce. (Did you know that Joyce titled *Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man* after *The Portrait of a Lady*? Did you know James is parodied in *Ulysses?*)
In fact, anyone who has read my favorite novel *The Wings of the Dove* will spot a direct connection between Milly Theale and Michael Furey of "The Dead." It's obvious to me that Joyce relished James and read him closely. Yet somehow the two writers are rarely linked, but **henryJAMESjoyce** would look cool on a t-shirt.
Feel free to give your thoughts on these stories or share your own favorite works that include a world-stopping epiphany. But keep us in suspense and don't reveal what it is.
#entertainment
source
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