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The Henry James Review FaU, 1986 An Interview with James Baldwin on Henry James by David Adams Leeming, University of Connecticut James Baldwin has never made a secret of the importance of Henry James to his creative Ufe. Furthermore, the Baldwin-James connection has been weU argued by others, particularly by Charles Newman in his "The Lesson of the Master : Henry James and James Baldwin," and by LyaU Powers in "Henry James and James Baldwin: The Complex Figure." Newman suggests that the problem for both Baldwin's and James's characters is "the opacity of their culture and the question of their identity within it," that the "psychological consequence" of their "obscure hurts" is "self-imposed exile," from the vantage point of which America can be more objectively observed: "Paris, France, and WoUett [sic], Mass., are not knowable without the other" (53, 63). Powers agrees essentiaUy with Newman. At the center of his article is the whole question of identity as opposed to manners: "the aims of these two writers are much the same: to examine the problem of learning to live in a 'civilized' society whose manners, conventions , prejudices often threaten individual integrity; of coming to terms with that society's demands; and of managing to make the necessary compromises—but without giving up one's essential self, 'that charming conversible infinite thing, the intensest thing we know'" (667). Early in his essay Powers refers to an article by WiUiam Weatherby in which Weatherby mentions a portrait of James owned by Baldwin (651). An interesting story Ues behind that portrait, a photograph signed by both John Singer Sargent and Henry James of the portrait painted by Sargent to honor James on his seventieth birthday. The photograph was sent to Baldwin in the early 60s by Michael James, a grandson of WiUiam James, who had been impressed by a civU rights speech he had heard Baldwin give in Chicago. As I was Baldwin's secretary at the time and as Baldwin was away, I corresponded with Michael James and tried to convey to him some sense of how appreciative I knew Baldwin would be. When Baldwin returned he was, in fact, deeply moved, and he hung the photograph directly above his writing desk. The picture became a kind of direct link between him and a writer who, as far as Baldwin was concerned, came closer to sharing his concerns than any other. That the gift would be appreciated was no surprise. Baldwin and I had talked many times about James (on whom I was writing a doctoral dissertation under Leon Edel) and Baldwin had lectured several times on The American, The Portrait of a Lady, and The Ambassadors for my classes at Robert CoUege in Istanbul. In everything that he said in those conversations and those lectures, it was clear that his relationship with James was of a very special sort, perhaps of the sort that existed between James and Balzac. James was his standard—the writer he thought of when he thought of the heights to which the novelist's art might aspire. Volume VIII 47 Number 1 The Henry James Review FaU, 1986 In recent years Baldwin and I have continued our discussion of Henry James in a series of interviews in connection with a biographical project. The interview that foUows is a part of that process. It took place recently at Baldwin's "exile" home in St. Paul de Vence. The interview indicates the validity of the connections pointed to by Newman and Powers; it also indicates how extensive those connections are. When Baldwin talks of Henry James, he does not talk only of a comradeship of expatriates or of the struggle between manners and self; he speaks of James as the writer who shares with him the one essential theme, that of the failure of Americans to see through to "the reality of others"—the same failure that is apparent in America's "race problem" and in the struggles of Lambert Strether to free himself from "innocence." DL: Jimmy, years ago in the 60s, when I was working for you in New York, I was surprised to find in your files notes for an article on...

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