Christopher Stuart
NEMLA Panel
THE MOTHER[S] OF HENRY JAMES
Papers dealing with ANY aspect of motherhood in James's works (both
fiction and non-fiction) will be considered, but those dealing more
particularly with the significance of Mary James in his life and fiction
will be especially welcome.
Mary (Walsh) James, has long been a controversial figure in James studies,
but the controversy surrounding her has lately come to the fore with the
publication of Lyndall Gordon's _A Private Life of Henry James_ (1999).
Beginning with Leon Edel, numerous critics have pointed to Mrs. James as
the root cause of what they perceive as her children's mental illnesses.
Gordon's recent biography, however, provides the least flattering portrait
of all. She regards Mrs. James as "an important clue to mental disturbance
in the [James family] household." According to Gordon, "it was not genius
alone that caused the [emotional] trouble," in the James family, "but
genius in thrall to dullness." "To be small-minded and busy," she writes,
"is a recipe for maximum damage. The icon of domestic angel gave Mrs.
James a license to twist her children to her will." Not all critics,
however, have seen Mary James as such a destructive force within the James
family. In his family biography _The Jameses_ (1991), R.W.B. Lewis points
out that Mrs. James was the most emotionally stable member of a generally
neurotic family, the "calmly comforting" one on whom the rest depended.
The best evidence for this view comes from James himself who remained
devoted to his mother throughout her life and who always remembered her
with an intense affection after her death.
Nevertheless, Edel, Gordon and others rightly suggest that there are few
admirable mothers to be found in James's fiction. Indeed, the selfish
manipulators appear to predominate. Although James typically characterized
his own mother as an "angel," the mothers in his fiction are most often
characterized as women from whom their children must escape. In short, the
issues surrounding James and motherhood have long been recognized as
important to James studies, and recent works such as those of Gordon and
Graham have made them ripe for debate and discussion.
Send submissions postmarked by September 15th to <<Chris-stuart@utc.edu>>
or to Chris Stuart, The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, English
Department, 615 McCallie Ave, Chattanooga, TN 37403, or call 423-785-2140
for more information.
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