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Intonation in Henry James

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Intonation in Henry James Faculty of English ‘The Auditive Intelligence’: Intonation in Henry James James Lello St Catharine’s College University of CamBridge This dissertation is suBmitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy DecemBer 2019 ABSTRACT This thesis seeks to retrieve the ‘auditive intelligence’ in the work of Henry James, but it does so by first recognising some of the theoretical and historical obstacles that lie in the way of such a recovery. Structural linguistics has been responsible for encouraging the assumption that there are no better or worse ways of speaking, that the differences between writing and speech are of little significance, and that tone is merely a subset of language. James’s formulation of the ‘auditive intelligence’ in his revised essay on the French actor Benoît-Constant Coquelin (1915) emerges in opposition to further, historically situated, impediments: the lack of any ‘serious study’ of tone, the false choice between saying and doing, the theatrical vogue for pictorialism, and the priority of the eye over the ear. The ‘auditive intelligence’ makes it possible to conceive of tone as in itself a complete drama, a revelatory instant where previously concealed relations suddenly adopt an emphatic salience. In The Tragic Muse (1890) the discrimination of tone, both as a quality of the voice and of its discernment, emerges as one form this intelligence takes. This mode of personal and cultural edification is developed with reference to ‘The Question of Our Speech’ (1905), James’s essays on the speech and manners of American women (1906-1907), The Awkward Age (1899), and The Ambassadors (1903). The discrimination of tone depends upon the accumulation and fulfilment of experience, and this is particularly evident when tone remains long after the death of its speaker, or else is capable of preserving life itself. This is explored in ‘Frances Anne Kemble’ (1893) and The Golden Bowl (1904). This thesis hopes to identify an overlooked element of James’s style, one that represents a largely unprecedented moment in English literary history; because in James’s writing intonation possesses a prosodic sophistication typically reserved for verse, the auditive intelligence forms part of his broader aspiration to transform the cultural status of the novel. i DECLARATION This dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration. It is not substantially the same as any previously or concurrently submitted for a degree, diploma, or any other qualification at the University of Cambridge, or any other University or similar institution. I further state that no substantial part of my dissertation has already been submitted, or is being concurrently submitted, for any such degree or other qualification, either at this or any other University or similar institution. This thesis does not exceed the prescribed word-limit for the relevant Degree Committee. ii CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................ iv REFERENCES AND ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................... v LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................. x Introduction: Care for Tone ................................................................................................. 1 0.0 ‘A Definite Preliminary’ ......................................................................................... 1 0.1 The Terminology Used in this Thesis ................................................................... 13 0.2 Careless Habits of Accuracy ................................................................................. 17 0.3 Contradictions on the Tongue ............................................................................... 25 0.4 The Despotism of the Eye ..................................................................................... 32 0.5 The Aim and Scope of this Thesis ........................................................................ 37 Chapter One: ‘The Auditive Intelligence’ ......................................................................... 43 1.0 Saying and Doing .................................................................................................. 43 1.1 The Test of Tone ................................................................................................... 47 1.2 ‘A Complete Drama’ ............................................................................................. 52 1.3 Turning Points ....................................................................................................... 65 1.4 Tone Touchstones ................................................................................................. 73 1.5 Coda: ‘The Tone of Civilisation’ .......................................................................... 89 Chapter Two: ‘The Drama of Discrimination’ .................................................................. 95 2.0 The Play of Discrimination ................................................................................... 95 2.1 ‘The Acquisition of a New Ear’ ........................................................................... 103 2.2 The Tone-Bearers ............................................................................................... 112 2.3 The Awkward Stage ............................................................................................ 117 2.4 The Rigours of Trust ........................................................................................... 134 2.5 The Fullness of Tone .......................................................................................... 144 Chapter Three: Intonations of Immortality ...................................................................... 151 3.0 ‘An Absolutely Abiding Measure’ ..................................................................... 151 3.1 Irresistible Resistances ....................................................................................... 164 3.2 Conversations with the Dead ............................................................................. 173 3.3 Last Words ......................................................................................................... 186 Coda ................................................................................................................................. 205 Bibliography .................................................................................................................... 213 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the following for their support during the writing of this thesis: Ruth Abbott, Christian Coppa, Caroline Gonda, Oliver Herford, Michael Hurley, Hester Lees-Jeffries, Laura Kilbride, John Lello, Sandra Lello, Ryan Pepin, Rosa Van Hensbergen, Lewis Wynn. I would especially like to thank my advisor, Adrian Poole, for his support and advice throughout. Natasha Pinnington also requires particular mention; she helped me see a way through some of the most difficult periods during the writing of this work. This thesis would not have been possible without my supervisor, Tamara Follini. I owe her a great debt of thanks. A version of the opening of Chapter 1 was delivered at the eighth International Henry James Society Conference, ‘The Sound of James’, in Trieste, July 2019. I would like to thank those who attended for their feedback, as well as the organisers. I am especially grateful for the Cambridge AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership scholarship. This thesis is dedicated to my parents. iv REFERENCES AND ABBREVIATIONS This thesis adopts the MHRA Style Guide: A Handbook for Authors and Editors (London: Modern Humanities Research Association, 2013). References to Shakespeare are to The Complete Works, ed. by Stanley Wells et. al., second edition (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2005). References to the Oxford English Dictionary are to OED Online (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012) [http//.www.oed.com]. Primary Works A The American (London: Macmillan and Co., 1879) AA The Awkward Age (New York and London: Harper and Brothers, 1899) AB The Author of Beltraffio (Boston: James R. Osgood and Co., 1885) ‘Altar’ ‘The Altar of the Dead’, in Terminations (London: William Heinemann, 1895) AS The American Scene (London: Chapman and Hall, 1907) ‘Aspern’ ‘The Aspern Papers’, in The Aspern Papers, Louisa Pallant, The Modern Warning, 2 vols (London: Macmillan and Co., 1888), I ‘Beast’ ‘The Beast in the Jungle’, in The Better Sort (London: Methuen and Co., 1903), pp. 189-244 CFHJ The Cambridge Edition of the Complete Fiction of Henry James, ed. by Michael Anesko, Tamara L. Follini, Philip Horne, Adrian Poole, 34 vols (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015–), eight volumes to date v CN The Complete Notebooks of Henry James, ed. by Leon Edel and Lyall H. Powers (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987) ‘Coquelin’ (1887) ‘Coquelin’, in The Century Illustrated Magazine, 33 (January, 1887), 407-13, in The Complete Writings of Henry James on Art and Drama, vol. 2: Drama, ed. by Peter Collister (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016), pp. 320-37 ‘Coquelin’ (1915) ‘Coquelin’, in Papers on Acting: II: Art and the Actor by Constant Coquelin, trans. by Abby Langdon Alger, with an introduction by Henry James (New York: Dramatic Museum of Columbia University, 1915), pp. 1-36, in The Complete Writings of Henry James on Art and Drama, vol.2: Drama, ed. by Peter Collister
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