The Audio Book World of Henry James

I am a mother and a commuting graduate student. As such I have made a personal crusade of doing two things at once; one of those things is usually driving. Therefore, an author’s course devoted exclusively to Henry James at West Virginia University one recent semester led me to the discovery of James on tape.

The early James fare is easy to find. The American and The Europeans are both offered by more than one company. What about the later James—or even the middle James? Has the audio book world been seduced by linear topical tales of the aristocracy to the exclusion of such lesser known works as The Spoils of Poynton. Happily not, at least not Flo Gibson. Through the auspices of her small company she has recorded seventeen James titles including short stories and literary criticism. As if to prove beyond a doubt her Jamesian proclivity, she has even recorded William James’s The Varieties of Religious Experience.

Gibson began her career as a radio broadcaster during World War II. Nineteen years ago, after raising a family and at a time when many people are considering retirement, she auditioned to be a reader for the Library of Congress. Since then she has recorded 636 books for the Library of Congress and seven other companies. Her own Audio Book Contractors lists over 350 titles. Henry James has the distinction of being the most recorded author in her repertoire. According to Gibson, “The most difficult, the most demanding book I ever recorded was The Golden Bowl.” Hers is a powerful rendition whose four main characters resonate with Gibson’s command of accent and pitch to give them the vitality James intended. “I do two James novels a year and will continue to do so for the rest of my days,” she explained. “This month it’s on to The Princess Casamassima.”

Gibson has definite ideas about James’s novels. “I have a love/hate relationship with James,” she says. “When I read some of his work I think, ‘Why don’t you punctuate? Why do you put five “howevers” on a page?’ But then he does something wonderful with a sentence and, of course, I forgive him everything.” As a narrator, Gibson brings that special set of concerns to the texts. The sheer length of a particular sentence might require technical re-working in order to represent it correctly on the tape. According to Gibson, “Many times in a late James text I will stop in the middle of a page to consult the engineer. Sometimes we’ll both look at the page and say, ‘Where is this going?’ We literally have to work our way back to the beginning of the sentence or descriptive section to make sure the reading carries the appropriate textual meaning. But, of course, with James it’s always worth the effort.” Gibson is fond of describing audio books as the third best way to experience a text. “It’s always best to read a text and savor it without mediation. Failing that, reading or being read to by someone you love is a wonderful alternative. After that comes the audio book.”

For purists, it must be admitted, there are problems. For instance, neither Audio Book Contractors nor Books on Tape was able to provide me with a list of the textual editions that were used for the narrations. In some instances, one can determine which edition is being used just by following along with text in hand—especially with the early James. Most companies seem to prefer recording the original texts, the further away from 1918 and any copyright imbroglio the better. Many times, however, no one text is recorded. Instead, readers may use several editions in one recording session to produce an eclectic audio text. There are compelling reasons for creating such an amalgam. The audio narrative process requires a more precise rendering of meaning than the sight-reading process. While the brain usually adjusts for the various sight anomalies present in any edition—typos, dropped words or punctuation—the audio text must make sense as the narrator reads...