The Tragic Muse

by Henry James

Book Overview

'You must paint her just like that ... as the Tragic Muse' Thus suggests one of James's characters to Nick Dormer, the young Englishman who, during the course of the novel, will courageously resist the glittering Parliamentary career desired for him by his family, in order to paint. His progress is counterpointed by the 'Tragic Muse' of the title, Miriam Rooth, one of James's most fierily beautiful creations, a great actress indifferent to social...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140046062
• ISBN13: 9780140046069
• Release Date: August 1978
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 544 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The Muse Is A Jealous God

In THE TRAGIC MUSE, Henry James broached the topic of art in what was for him a new perspective. Rather than merely write about art in a novel, he attempted to infuse his own guiding principles about art into a fabric that dared both James and the reader to ponder the rightful balance between art, its devotees, and one like himself who tried to use words as his easel to divorce himself from his appointed role of artist-novelist and gradually meld into that of his intended subject--art itself. James' three primary characters collectively represent the discrete corners of the artistic triangle. At the lower left hand of the base is Nick Dormer, an Englishman who is torn between a career in politics (towards which his girlfriend Lady Julia relentlessly pushes him) and one in painting. At the lower right base is Nick's cousin Peter Sherringham, who is similarly split between his annointed career as a diplomat and one in the theater. Both Nick and Peter have reached a level of contented stasis with this push-pull ambivalence, at least until Miriam Rooth, the apex, appears to force them both into some serious considerations about the role of the artist in society. Nick and Peter like art but for them art is not primary, but in their attempts to discover just how close to primary it may be, their approaching the burning flame of art threatens their primary careers. They are talented enough in politics and diplomacy to survive quite nicely without art centering as a distraction, but neither is talented enough in art to survive well enough without their non-art careers as a distraction. Into this mix steps Miriam, a young and beautiful actress. Nick and Peter call her the "tragic muse" of the title. She is the living symbol of what both men see as the apotheosis of artistic sainthood. They can aspire to achieve with great effort and only with partial success what she can with no effort and total success. But to operate on such a god-like level is deceptively easy. To act and become someone else on the stage is no easy task; it requires constant and diligent devotion to one's art. James suggests that Miriam has made an informed choice, a trade-off between success on the stage and a life off it. Miriam is so good at her craft that both men are discouraged from becoming the paragon that they see her as. Her success on the stage is her failure off it. The tragedy of the title lies in the tacit acceptance that the unreality of artistic success makes the successfull practitioner increasingly more tragic with each new laurel earned. Nick and Peter see themselves as failures only because they do not reach the heights of Miriam. The irony is that they never learn that the rarified air of success on Mt. Olympus is a debilitating one, and that the price that one must pay to wear that laurel excludes one from meaningful human contact back on planet earth. Henry James in THE TRAGIC MUSE makes this point clear to the reader even if Peter and Nick never catch on.

The Lessons of the Master

In an interview, Vladimir Nabokov once spoke of the distinction Russians draw between a genius (such as Tolstoy), and a mere "talent", and the example Nabokov gave of the latter was Henry James. Nabokov never did rate James highly (nor Thomas Mann, Hemingway and many other undoubtedly great writers). Nabokov was of course mistaken. Henry James is one of the true geniuses of literature. His capacity to portray nuances of character through subtle changes of light and shade has never been equalled. The later James style is notoriously dense, elliptical and difficult to read. And yet through this density, the Victorianisms of the language spoken by James' characters, the important - often critical - things that are only half spoken, and sometimes never spoken, James reveals characters facing moral and personal dilemmas of a kind that seem startlingly immediate to us. James' characters are always complex, rarely do what we expect them to, and are often as frustrating and intriguing as any "real" people. The Tragic Muse is a lengthy discussion of the role of the artist in society, and the choices - sometimes hard choices - people make in becoming artists and leaving the conventional world behind. James certainly would have been conscious of these issues from his own career. And yet The Tragic Muse is often very funny, with very sharp, witty dialogue, amusing characters and an engrossing story. I agree with the previous reviewer, who described it as an overlooked masterpiece. I rate it as highly as, say, The Ambassadors, one of James' final three great completed novels. The later Henry James can be difficult going, and I have found these books to be a taste slowly acquired. I would therefore not recommend this book to readers new to James (instead I would suggest Washington Square, The Europeans or the Bostonians). However, once you have acquired the taste for James his prose style, frustrating as it sometimes is, becomes addictive, especially for the deep insights into character that he offers and the ability to conjure up reality through a seeming haze of words. For those who enjoy reading Henry James - and, like Nabokov, not everyone does - this book is very highly recommended.

A Wonderful Surprise

This James novel is an overlooked masterpiece. I'm not entirely certain I don't like it every bit as much as the often praised "Wings of the Dove".Art with a capital "A" is the subject at hand and Miriam Rooth (the Tragic Muse), Peter Sherringham and Nick Dormer all have their own way of coming to terms with the idea of a life given over to Art.Favorite chapters are those on a visit to the Green Room of the Theatre Francaise and the magnificent Chapter XLVI.Considering that James made his choice of a life given up to literature at a very early age, one can't help seeing this book as his apologia. And a grand one it is, too!