Volume 8, Number 12 · June 29, 1967
A Son and Brother
By Stuart Hampshire
William James
by Gay Wilson Allen
Viking Press, 556 pp., $10.00
In 1890 both Principles of Psychology and The Tragic Muse were published. Professor Allen quotes William James's remark to Henry—the year 'will be known as the great epochal year in American literature.' He was not deceived. The two brothers had stepped outside the provincial setting into which they were born. They had both known that it was their mission to establish a full and distinct American presence in modern thought and literature. They had both felt constrained and diminished in that small, far-away corner of the world, Cambridge, where 'life is about as lively as in the inner sepulchre.' Each was to make his escape, with some difficulties and slowly, from an excessive spiritual refinement and to affirm his independence; but they had different strategies. That William finally stayed and Henry went; that William made himself a national figure, was proud of native resources, and found a philosophy that looked peculiarly American, while Henry found his models in European masters and in European manners: these are the familiar facts. Now that we have Professor Allen's well-documented and intensely readable biography alongside Mr. Edel's volumes on Henry, both based on family sources, the story can be seen to be very complex.
Review, 2451 words
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