From Satire To Recognition Of Aestheticism

Aestheticism flourished in the late-nineteenth-century England, where the American expatriate Henry James had lived from thirty-three years of age until his death. It was England, or specifically, London, that James chose as his second homeland, to endow his intimacy and affection, and then finally decided to become an English subject one year before going forever into eternity, leaving to the world his brilliant and incalculable novels and literary criticism.First of all, while there is evidence of James's relationship with aestheticism, the nature of this association hasn't been cleared out. In The Cosmopolitan World of Henry James, Adeline R. Tintner features him as an aesthete who gangs up with the English and French "fin-de-siecle" writers. In the essay entitled "The Aesthetic Idealism of Henry James", Stuart Sherman elevates this view by going so bold as to conclude that James has always been an aesthete from the beginning to the end. Needless to say, this approach proves inefficient in explaining James's disapproval and attack of aestheticism and the aesthetes in his early period. On the contrary, Jacobson Jarcia in Henry James and the Mass Market portrays James as indifferent to aestheticism. This hypothesis fails, too, in providing an acceptable explication for James's later appreciation of aestheticism. Therefore, James's reaction to and affinity with aestheticism is controversial and debatable. It is important to note that, neither the way of setting James in opposition to aestheticism or in the same line with this theory is necessarily proper and accurate. In different stages, James appears to pose different attitudes toward Paterian aestheticism. Besides, his critique on the nature of the aesthetes alters from time to time. The thesis raises the question about the precise nature of this phenomenon and aims at solving it.Secondly, there exist theoretical and practical difficulties in interpreting and understanding of James's works, for example The Portrait of a Lady and The Ambassadors. One of the difficulties is that, when reading James's novels, readers and critics often find themselves in the middle of a pyramid, baffled and bewildered by the long infinite sentences and the thick complicated web of characters' thoughts and monologues. Consequently, in many researches that have been carried out so far, the specific quality of the characters, as well as the cause of their behaviors, which are so crucial for a complete apprehension of these novels, are still not defined and clarified. For instance, in The Portrait of a Lady, it remains ambiguous why Isabel Archer, after being hard-hearted and refusing so many extraordinary suitors, falls in love so quickly and ardently with Gilbert Osmond. What in the world has made Osmond, a poor man and "a perfect nonentity" in the eyes of the middle class, so irresistibly attractive to Isabel? Why does Isabel become distressed and sorrowful after their marriage? What is the reason for Lambert Strether in The Ambassadors to be deployed to Paris? What exactly happens to him in this excursion that influences his mind and causes him to switch his position at the expense of trust from his fellowmen? All these mysteries and puzzles haven't been decoded; all these doubts and uncertainties are unraveled.The thesis then sets out to decipher the enigmas, shedding them under the light and from the perspective of the author's connection with Paterian aestheticism. The study centers on two classic examples of James's works, which in the meantime best illustrate the alteration in his literary career: The Portrait of a Lady (1881) and The Ambassadors (1903). As for the linguistic complexity of the novels, it will be easier if unlimited patience is given to the reading. Furthermore, the research is assisted and facilitated by the massive records of James's literary criticism, notebooks and correspondences with his family and friends, thanks to James's habit and ability of articulating himself expressively on paper.Chapter One provides a general review of James study at home and abroad. It argues for the necessity of study from the perspective of aestheticism, whilst giving a brief introduction of Paterian aestheticim.Chapter Two undertakes Gilbert Osmond, The Portrait of a Lady's antagonist, as object of study. Through the character Osmond, James exhausts the possibilities of one form of aestheticism: egocentricity and immorality. Osmond's egocentricity and immorality are what James expects to be the aftermath of Paterian individuality and amorality. In his theory, Pater promotes art as way and solution of living, urging artists "to burn away with this hard, gemlike flame, to maintain this ecstasy". Osmond then insists that, "one should make one's life a work of art". Paterian individuality refers to art as individual response, as personal. To James, who in early stage cares much about society and the relationship between men and society, this approach is problematic. James argues that this view makes art narrow and provincial, the artists egocentric and self-indulgent. Osmond's egocentricity is the embodiment of this default in Paterian aestheticism. Next, Paterian amorality is based on the concept that art is not related to morality, ignorant of social virtue and standards and stands beyond judgment. James dismisses this opinion and deliberately erases the shadowy line between amorality and immorality. Osmond's faith in Paterian amorality then results in his moral efficiency and his problematic relationship with others. Meanwhile, this chapter provides the structure of thought and associations that underlie James's heavily satirical portrayal of the aesthete.Chapter Three focuses on Lambert Strether, hero of The Ambassadors, as contemplating target. Strether embodies James's recognition of Paterian aestheticism that follows the author's increasing exposure to Pater's doctrine. The reason why Woollett people send Strether to Paris to oppose to the so-called European corruption is explained. Also, the chapter analyzes Strether's conversion from a moralist to an aesthete and his surrender to beauty at a great cost of the Woollett community's trust. As a matter of fact, Strether exemplifies James's study of the possibilities that Paterian aestheticism offer to art and also to life. The Ambassadors is where James reverses his initial position and describes the need of art with the greatest of subtlety. Like Pater, James now declares that "it is art that makes life, makes interest, makes importance". Strether's phrase, "Live all you can; it's a regret not to", reflects Pater's utterance, "Make as much as possible of the interval that remained". For one thing, James exhibits his sympathy for and admiration of Strether as Strether discloses his tenderness toward Paterian aestheticism.Chapter Four interposes the results of the research, mentioning the similarity and interconnection between James's ideas and Pater's. Last of all, it discusses the possibility of a construction of Jamesian aestheticism, James's own aesthetic doctrine.