HENRY JAMES: AT HOME AND ABROAD
One Monday and Four Tuesdays, September 20 and 21, October 5
and 19, November 2, 12:30 p.m.
Rienzi, 1406 Kirby Drive (immediately north of Lazy Lane)
“The only obligation to which we may hold a novel,” Henry
James once notably declared, “is that it be interesting.”
We will explore five of the most “interesting” of James’s
novels from the three major phases of his literary career. Our speaker
is Caroline Levander, associate professor of English at Rice University
and author of a number of articles on Henry James. The seminar will
focus on James’s lifelong fascination with Europe and will consider
how James’s most famous heroines, as well as their creator, confront
the world abroad as part of what James described as the “complex
fate of being American.”
On Monday, September 20, we will enjoy a private tour
of Rienzi, a European-style villa built for Mr. and Mrs. Harris Masterson
III and now the European decorative arts center of the Museum of Fine
Arts, Houston. Thereafter we will meet every other Tuesday in Rienzi’s
elegant ballroom and discuss James’s books in the following order:
Monday, September 20: Tour of Rienzi
Tuesday, September 21: The Bostonians
Tuesday, October 5: The Portrait of a Lady
Tuesday, October 19: The Turn of the Screw
and What Maisie Knew
Tuesday, November 2: The Golden Bowl
