The finest works he produced would thus be found to be those on
one side or the other of the year 1900.
The subtlety of Henry James is a subtlety which is caused not by
philosophical but by psychological distinctions and it is a subtlety
which enlarges our sympathy for the average human nature of middle
class people to a degree that must, in the very deepest sense of the
word, be called moral.
The wisdom to be derived from him is all of a piece with the
pleasure--both being the result of a fuller, richer, and more
discriminating consciousness of the tragic complexity of quite little
and unimportant characters. To a real lover of Henry James the greyest
and least promising aspects of ordinary life seem to hold up to us
infinite possibilities of delicate excitement. It is indeed out of
excitement--partly intellectual and partly aesthetic,--that his great
effects are produced. And yet the final effect is always one of
resignation and calm--as with all the supreme masters.
70. THOMAS HARDY. TESS OF THE D'URBEVILLES. THE RETURN OF THE NATIVE.
THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE. FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD. WESSEX POEMS.
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