Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Colm Tóibín: how Henry James's family tried to keep him in the closet; Guardian, 2/20/16

Colm Toibin, Guardian; Colm Tóibín: how Henry James's family tried to keep him in the closet:
"In his book Monopolizing the Master, published in 2012, Michael Anesko sought to outline the struggle that went on to control James’s posthumous reputation.
It began some years before James’s death as the novelist worked on the volume of his autobiography called Notes of a Son and Brother. As he began to use letters written by his brother William in this book, letters that had been given to him by his sister-in-law, he felt free to make amendments to suit his own purposes. Harry wrote to his uncle sharply when news of this leaked out. When Henry replied: “the sad thing is I think you’re right in being offended”, Harry wrote an exclamation mark in the margin. He wished to control publication of his father’s letters himself."

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