Ben Marcus's books The Age of Wire and String and Notable American Women were considered "experimental" fiction because of his unconventional use of...
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I believe that, like in many other Henry James stories, the "I" telling the story is mistaken. He leads us into a wild goose chase. He is James' typical smug narrator, someone who is simply wrong. In "The Figure in the Carpet", the "I" admits he is stumped. Was he looking at the problem from the wrong perspective?
I have assumed, perhaps mistakenly, that through this story James was telling us that his writing has a hidden intent, a secret mechanism. And that we can decipher the secret through an accurate interpretation of this story. But like the narrator, I still haven't discovered the secret.
Perhaps I am reading too much into the story. Have I ended up being like the narrator, who tries and fails? Perhaps it was James' intent, that we try and try, yet fail in the end!
Paul Goldring
pmg963@eastlink.ca
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The Figure in the Carpet by Henry, Jr. James
pmg963, October 12, 2008
I believe that, like in many other Henry James stories, the "I" telling the story is mistaken. He leads us into a wild goose chase. He is James' typical smug narrator, someone who is simply wrong. In "The Figure in the Carpet", the "I" admits he is stumped. Was he looking at the problem from the wrong perspective?I have assumed, perhaps mistakenly, that through this story James was telling us that his writing has a hidden intent, a secret mechanism. And that we can decipher the secret through an accurate interpretation of this story. But like the narrator, I still haven't discovered the secret.
Perhaps I am reading too much into the story. Have I ended up being like the narrator, who tries and fails? Perhaps it was James' intent, that we try and try, yet fail in the end!
Paul Goldring
pmg963@eastlink.ca
(1 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)