When Henry Met Edith

Henry James, to me, is at times a very hard person to understand. I have read part of his "Figure in the Carpet", well, more like the first couple paragraphs of that story and felt very confused afterwards. At this, this work started the same way. He does go into a lot of detail of the topics in which he is talking about and this way he can be very thorough. From what I could make out from the things he said is writing novels is just not something done for entertainment and to be taken lightly all the time. It is an art form such as painting a picture is an art form. However, the meanings of these pieces of art have different uses. But it is the differences that make it all matter. "Their inspriation is the same, their process (allowing for the different quality of the vehicle), is the same, their success is the same. They may learn from each other, they may explain and sustain each other"(555). The events in life is what inspires all art, whether it be paintings or novels; "A novel is in its broadest definition a personal, a direct impression of life"(557). IN this sense, there is no right or wrong way to create something. Everyone has their own ideas of what is good, or how to create. No matter what though, there will never been one way accepted by all beause for the fact that art is impressions of life, all lives are different and the way one person paints a picture for example, they are going to paint it to their standards, to their liking or within their abilities. This art being so personalized, we each have our own meanings and values to different things "For the value of these different injunctions- so beautiful and so vague- is wholly in thee meaning one attaches to them"(558). It is our experiences that give us and help us form our personal meanings to everything in the world. "Experience is never limited, and it is never complete (559). All in all, there is no right and wrong when coming to art; it is a form of expression and the meanings within ourselves give meaning to our art. And no one can take that away from you and the people who critize need to simmer down. "I have no right to tamper with your flute and then criticise your music"(562)
nor does a critic when coming to writing novels.

In relation to Edith Wharton's "Souls Belated", this story encompasses the idea James was trying to convey in "The Art of Fiction." The meanings of things and the experiences that one has is a very personal encounter. The main character has just gone through a divorce with a man who lived his life in luxury, in a high class setting. Among these high class people, certain things are required of the family members and the people they bring into the family such as what to wear, what to eat, timing, scheduling and even as far as the people you associate yourself with. Within these restrictions, one can not be themselves as they naturally are and a narrow view of the world is held, finding yourself stuck in one way of thinking. "Of course one acts as one can- as one must, perhaps- pulled by all sorts of invisible threads"(852). The main character is put into the restrictions people were putting writers into about writing being an art. There is only value in the traditions, regulations one sets out for themselves and that everyone follow those regulations or you become ostercized from society.