“Never say you know the last word about any human heart.” That’s one of the great sentences of this great writer, Henry James (1843-1916). In this seminar – which welcomes both experienced readers of James and novices – we’ll discover many more.

We will not read our selections from James in chronological order but will hope to find some special pleasures within a different sequence. We’ll start with the short “The Beast in the Jungle” (1903) and follow it with James’s last completed novel The Golden Bowl (1904), which many consider his best. We’ll continue with two earlier novels, The American (1877) and The Europeans (1878), whose titles highlight the truth behind the phrase on the stone on James’s grave: “Citizen of Two Countries.” We’ll then close with two short works written eleven years apart: “Daisy Miller” (1877) and “The Aspern Papers” (1888).

And throughout the course we’ll keep in mind a second fine command from James’s pen: “Try to be one of the people on whom nothing is lost.”

This seminar takes place over six Wednesdays, each at 11:00 AM in the Whitridge Room:
January 18
February 15
March 15
April 12
May 10
June 7