Volume 31, Number 9 · May 31, 1984
Twice-Born
By Rosemary Dinnage
Becoming William James
by Howard M. Feinstein
Cornell University Press, 377 pp., $24.95
'Henry's brother': in Britain this is still how William James is seen. For was not Henry really Europe's—ultimately and benignly and oh, so splendidly a British citizen? In the United States William James's stature is, I would suppose, different, and attracts the attention of academics and biographers. But does he yet have the importance that he should have? In a recent book Jacques Barzun asked why his face never appears on an American stamp, when many less eminent people make the grade. The fact is that psychology is such a shoddy and fashion-ridden discipline that yesterday's heroes are blanked out, scarcely even worth a laugh for their fuddy-duddyness; as for philosophy, people don't very much care. And it has yet to be recognized that hidden in The Principles of Psychology and The Varieties of Religious Experience is a tremendous autobiography. With James one is drawn continually to the biographical, to the drama of his extraordinary family. Possibly there is no family, famous or not, whose workings we are so near to getting the hang of.
Review, 2579 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |