Maybe I’m a relic of the past, but I’ve always felt like the choice between marriage and public life is the main choice. "Happily ever after” has always meant “and then we never heard from her again,” it always seemed. And yet, rejecting domesticity/marriage, I also feared that once I got older, I would no longer be the darling of the public (or, in my case, academia or fashion), and would be discarded just as I potentially would by a husband and the life I thought might save me from such disappointment in the public sphere. Is it a woman thing, or is it just a human thing? Do we all fear these things? At this point, all influencers must feel that fear, whoever they are. So, yes, the novel is prescient while being old-fashioned. Anyone should be able to relate to Verena. At this point, I kind of relate to Olive — if I were to be truly, nakedly honest, what wouldn’t I give to find a trusty aging-mate to share a life/living space with who I wouldn’t fear would run off with a lover (or whatever) and leave me? Poor Olive! Who will be her roommate now?
Just a note to say, I love the way you write. It’s honest and straight forward when broaching complex subjects and has an ease to it which is very pleasurable to read. Thank you.
Thank you for your insights. I recently re-read this book and was also surprised at how contemporary it feels in many ways. I think it’s key that Basil is a southerner, a loser in the recent war. He has come North because there is nothing left in the South. In Boston he may feel that he is as deep within the enemy camp as he can get. The Boston women are the antithesis of his mother and other southern ladies with gentle manners, as he observes. His love for Verena feels to him powerful and real, but perhaps a desire for revenge is a strong and unconscious undercurrent. Winning Verena away from the Boston women – and thoroughly dominating her - would be a tiny triumph for the massively defeated South. Also, I just need to say this as a woman reader: Verena has chosen to submit herself to a man who does not value her mind at all – and she does have a mind, as James and you make clear. I’m trying to recall a novel that ends with a man happily entering a marriage in which his wife similarly devalues him. Can’t think of one. The narrator’s prediction of tears does not seem like sour grapes to me.
I have been thinking a lot about a commitment to imagination and how it can be very similar to a commitment to meditation. And then I read this sentence, which felt like a beautiful and perfect summation of my thoughts: "But the thing I found most impressive is the way he illustrates that repetition is a sacrament of attention and that attention, when pressurized sufficiently, turns to Grace." Thank you for offering this wonderful clarification.
Thanks for this. The Bostonians is one of my favorite James novels. I read it before the social media age took hold, so it is fascinating to follow your reading of it and thinking about influencers and commodification of identity, forever-girls of pop, etc. Prescient indeed!
Read this purely for the love of your thought and writing. The purchase you have got on these questions is so compelling; this was a fantastic read. A wonderful substack to have hit upon. I have not read the book and don’t typically get on well with Mr. James; this remained brilliant.
Thanks for leading this wonderful seminar, Brandon. You brought out the timeliness and the contradictions that make this novel so fascinating. I still think James himself got a bit lost between lesbian love affairs and celebrity culture, which I think he saw emerging but barely understood. It’s funny and messy and almost anti-James, and you were a wonderful pathfinder in the exploration.
I’m inspired to reread the book! Remember seeing the film many years ago in the company of my fellow earnest and arty high school pals and it has always stuck with me. Thank u as ever, for sharing your thoughts with us.
Have you read The Portrait of a Lady? Granted, I do believe James wrote it after The Bostonians, but the entirety of that novel roundly refutes the notion that he thinks women shouldn't have thoughts in private. As for in public, I'm not sure. He was very good friends with two female novelists who were considerably more popular and successful than he, Edith Wharton (obvi) and Constance Fenimore Woolson, women whose careers comprised the having of thoughts in public, but I understand that that doesn't necessarily mean anything about his own beliefs.
He also referred to another female novelist friend of his as a "woman of genius" in "The Art of Fiction." And his biggest influence, which he often recognized, was George Eliot, who was herself an intellectual as well as a novelist. The more I reflect on his life and his influences, the clearer it becomes that he could not have believed that women shouldn't have thoughts in public without being hypocritical to the point of nonsense.
Thank you for this! I haven't read The Bostonians since I was a student in 1999; it was a book I hated reading but loved studying. A couple of weeks ago I saw the film for the first time, and it really did have a lot of resonance for now. A Verena saying, "Fuck all of you!" and going off and doing what she wants still seems mostly unlikely
Thank you so much for writing. I started reading The Bostonians thanks to your posts and the resonance with current Internet culture is unmistakable.
The satirical tone is great but the women, specially Verena and Olive felt almost caricature-ish. Dr Prance and Ms Birdseye (what names, no co-incidence!) being treated better almost makes up for it. The original debate of the public vs private must have felt modern at the time in which the novel is set.
Will be sure to read Small Rain and Open, Heaven both sound like wonderful reads.
I am not familiar with the bostonians but since I finished reading small rain last month I have continued to be with it almost daily. I think section 4 and oppen and the sparrow and thus attention and grief and longing are the IT of the novel. I totally agree that the pain ends up being secondary; it’s where the limitation of his physical body due to pain leads us (HIS GORGEOUS MIND!!!!!!) that is the true gem of the book. love the idea of this being summarized as Grace.🧡
Maybe I’m a relic of the past, but I’ve always felt like the choice between marriage and public life is the main choice. "Happily ever after” has always meant “and then we never heard from her again,” it always seemed. And yet, rejecting domesticity/marriage, I also feared that once I got older, I would no longer be the darling of the public (or, in my case, academia or fashion), and would be discarded just as I potentially would by a husband and the life I thought might save me from such disappointment in the public sphere. Is it a woman thing, or is it just a human thing? Do we all fear these things? At this point, all influencers must feel that fear, whoever they are. So, yes, the novel is prescient while being old-fashioned. Anyone should be able to relate to Verena. At this point, I kind of relate to Olive — if I were to be truly, nakedly honest, what wouldn’t I give to find a trusty aging-mate to share a life/living space with who I wouldn’t fear would run off with a lover (or whatever) and leave me? Poor Olive! Who will be her roommate now?
Just a note to say, I love the way you write. It’s honest and straight forward when broaching complex subjects and has an ease to it which is very pleasurable to read. Thank you.
Thank you for your insights. I recently re-read this book and was also surprised at how contemporary it feels in many ways. I think it’s key that Basil is a southerner, a loser in the recent war. He has come North because there is nothing left in the South. In Boston he may feel that he is as deep within the enemy camp as he can get. The Boston women are the antithesis of his mother and other southern ladies with gentle manners, as he observes. His love for Verena feels to him powerful and real, but perhaps a desire for revenge is a strong and unconscious undercurrent. Winning Verena away from the Boston women – and thoroughly dominating her - would be a tiny triumph for the massively defeated South. Also, I just need to say this as a woman reader: Verena has chosen to submit herself to a man who does not value her mind at all – and she does have a mind, as James and you make clear. I’m trying to recall a novel that ends with a man happily entering a marriage in which his wife similarly devalues him. Can’t think of one. The narrator’s prediction of tears does not seem like sour grapes to me.
I have been thinking a lot about a commitment to imagination and how it can be very similar to a commitment to meditation. And then I read this sentence, which felt like a beautiful and perfect summation of my thoughts: "But the thing I found most impressive is the way he illustrates that repetition is a sacrament of attention and that attention, when pressurized sufficiently, turns to Grace." Thank you for offering this wonderful clarification.
Thanks for this. The Bostonians is one of my favorite James novels. I read it before the social media age took hold, so it is fascinating to follow your reading of it and thinking about influencers and commodification of identity, forever-girls of pop, etc. Prescient indeed!
Read this purely for the love of your thought and writing. The purchase you have got on these questions is so compelling; this was a fantastic read. A wonderful substack to have hit upon. I have not read the book and don’t typically get on well with Mr. James; this remained brilliant.
Thanks for leading this wonderful seminar, Brandon. You brought out the timeliness and the contradictions that make this novel so fascinating. I still think James himself got a bit lost between lesbian love affairs and celebrity culture, which I think he saw emerging but barely understood. It’s funny and messy and almost anti-James, and you were a wonderful pathfinder in the exploration.
I’m inspired to reread the book! Remember seeing the film many years ago in the company of my fellow earnest and arty high school pals and it has always stuck with me. Thank u as ever, for sharing your thoughts with us.
Have you read The Portrait of a Lady? Granted, I do believe James wrote it after The Bostonians, but the entirety of that novel roundly refutes the notion that he thinks women shouldn't have thoughts in private. As for in public, I'm not sure. He was very good friends with two female novelists who were considerably more popular and successful than he, Edith Wharton (obvi) and Constance Fenimore Woolson, women whose careers comprised the having of thoughts in public, but I understand that that doesn't necessarily mean anything about his own beliefs.
He also referred to another female novelist friend of his as a "woman of genius" in "The Art of Fiction." And his biggest influence, which he often recognized, was George Eliot, who was herself an intellectual as well as a novelist. The more I reflect on his life and his influences, the clearer it becomes that he could not have believed that women shouldn't have thoughts in public without being hypocritical to the point of nonsense.
Thank you for this! I haven't read The Bostonians since I was a student in 1999; it was a book I hated reading but loved studying. A couple of weeks ago I saw the film for the first time, and it really did have a lot of resonance for now. A Verena saying, "Fuck all of you!" and going off and doing what she wants still seems mostly unlikely
Thank you so much for writing. I started reading The Bostonians thanks to your posts and the resonance with current Internet culture is unmistakable.
The satirical tone is great but the women, specially Verena and Olive felt almost caricature-ish. Dr Prance and Ms Birdseye (what names, no co-incidence!) being treated better almost makes up for it. The original debate of the public vs private must have felt modern at the time in which the novel is set.
Will be sure to read Small Rain and Open, Heaven both sound like wonderful reads.
I am not familiar with the bostonians but since I finished reading small rain last month I have continued to be with it almost daily. I think section 4 and oppen and the sparrow and thus attention and grief and longing are the IT of the novel. I totally agree that the pain ends up being secondary; it’s where the limitation of his physical body due to pain leads us (HIS GORGEOUS MIND!!!!!!) that is the true gem of the book. love the idea of this being summarized as Grace.🧡
This is so brilliant and engaging I’m going to reread The Bostonians! My brain feels electrified by your comments. 🙏🏻