American Writers (One Hundred Pages at a Time)

Part two of my review of THE AMERICAN by Henry James. For much of the middle part of this novel, the hero pursues his courtship with a French aristocrat while learning more of the gap between his world and that of the woman he hopes to marry.

"The Dunwich Horror" is another of my favorite H. P. Lovecraft tales that has a bit of everything; intentional amnesia, folklore, outer gods, body horror, class tensions, and the geography of horror. Part one of my analysis.

"The Color Out of Space" was Lovecraft's favorite story and it is indeed one of his best. The combination of body horror, science, and classic Lovecraftian themes makes for a fascinating, if bleak tale.

Part one of my review of THE AMERICAN by Henry James. It is by far my favorite of the five early novels I will look at in this series. It explores the attempt of a rich American to court a French widow from an aristocratic family.

Part three of my review of RODERICK HUDSON by Henry James. It is his first strong novel but a bit repetitive and banal in the end. I guess the lesson is Americans should stay away from Europe.

The final part of my review of THE CASE OF CHARLES DEXTER WARD by H. P. Lovecraft. The final chapter is an epic story of the conscious eradication of memory.

We go back to the present in chapter 3 of THE CASE OF CHARLES DEXTER WARD and witness the consequences of Ward's exploration into his family history. Some strange mysteries are revealed and the horror begins again.

Let's start over with Henry James by looking at his first decent novel, RODERICK HUDSON. In this novel, an aimless rich man adopts a poor artist and brings him to Europe for fame and adventure. What they find is that Europe is a bad place for anyone, especially artists, to be.