No. THE COMMEDIA DELL*ARTE TRADITION AND THREE LATER NOVELS OF HENRY JAMES Jack Helder A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY March 197^ Approved by $oc£opal Committee Advisor BOWLING GREEN S' -_ UHIVERSIïïUBRAit: cì 1974 JACK HELDER ALL RIGHTS RESERVED IX ABSTRACT What Maisie Knew, The Awkward Age, and The Golden Bowl form a sequential pattern that manifests Henry James’s subtle adaptation of theatrical conventions derived from the commedia dell'arte tradition. Recognition of this adapta­ tion adds a further dimension to conceptions of James as a dramatic novelist» one that not only comments on his method, but which also contributes to interpretation of his thematic intentions. This study commenced with a description of the essen­ tial nature, relevant conventions, and general intentions which characterized the commedia dell'arte tradition. The term "commedia dell’arte tradition" was used in deference to the dynamically evolutionary history, spontaneous personality, and assimilation into Western culture of the various forms of Italian Popular Comedy since the Renaissance. A theatrical species utilized by Scala, Goldoni, Gozzi, and Moliere can only inclusively and accurately be viewed in terms of a general tradition. Moreover, during James’s formative years, that tradition suffered a relative eclipse which precluded his direct experience with purer forms. Autobiographical, biographical, critical, and his­ torical resources document James’s appreciative familiarity with remnants of that tradition. His acquaintance was initiated through story books and the "earliest aesthetic seeds" sown at Niblo's Gardens. Europe later provided him with the English Harlequinade, pantomime, and puppetry. James was undoubtedly aware of the fin de siecle revival of interest in the tradition that involved Maurice Sand, J. A. Symonds, Aubrey Beardsley, Shaw, and even Howells. A lengthy textual analysis of What Maisie Knew, The Awkward Age, and The Golden Bowl delineated and examined the elements of James's adaptation. His later method of impro­ vising from a scenario was an appropriate step in his crea­ tion of the "fools" surrounding his ingenues, fools drawn from Pantalone. Gapitano. the meddlesome zanni, and a variety of innamorati and parasites. Such types determined the nature and direction of the fundamental sexual intrigues which animate the plots of these novels, and provided a grimly satirical comedy which, as George Sand said of the commedia dell’arte, revealed "the spiritual poverty of man­ kind." James accompanied these types and their resultant plots with sexual humor and figurative elements drawn from the dramatic circus and ironic fairy-tale. These adapted materials were marshalled to create a pattern which approaches James's theory of "The Figure in the Carpet," a concept of form that was developed within a few months of the fullest scenarii for What Maisie Knew. The Awkward Age, and The Golden Bowl. Ill ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Questions of authorship often involve indebtedness, and this study is no exception. Dr. Alma J. Payne has given her constant guidance, sound judgment, and generous under­ standing, Dr. J. Robert Bashore his positive reinforcement and thoughtful response, and Dr. Robert Meyers his critical acumen. My gratitude for their respect and valued friend­ ship cannot be measured. Dr. Charles R. Boughton’s knowledgeable contribution to this study has been greatly appreciated, as has the gracious and informative correspond­ ence of Dr. Adeline R. Tintner. For his inspiration, friend­ ship, and confidence during my own awkward age, I gratefully acknowledge Dr. Clyde E. Henson of Michigan State University. To Ann Carol Helder, for her too frequently thankless sup­ port and patience, I am eternally grateful. To persons such as these, the world owes its gratitude that the "spiritual poverty of mankind" is not absolute. iv TABLE OP CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 1 THE COMMEDIA DELL'ARTE............................... ................................... 16 JAMES'S ACQUAINTANCE WITH THE COMMEDIA DELL'ARTE TRADITION ........................... ........................... ........ 70 THE COMMEDIA DELL'ARTE AND THREE LATER NOVELS OF HENRY JAMES.........................................................................................108 BIBLIOGRAPHY.........................................................................................226 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION - The dramatic form seems to me the most beautiful thing possible» the misery of the thing is that the baseness of the English-speaking stage affords no setting for it. Henry James Paris, 1882 Henry James’s aversion to the English-speaking stage not only affected his ill-fsited theatrical efforts of the early 1890's, but also influenced his choice of methods and materials for three of his finest later novels. The ensuing study has grown out of an appreciation for James's dramatic method of representation in the novel, particularly as it is manifest in What Maisie Knew (1897)» The Awkward Age (1898), and The Golden Bowl (1904). In these works, James's dramatic method is combined with other pecularities of form and con­ tent to produce a grimly humorous set of novels unlike any others in the canon. These three novels are usually con­ sidered as general contributions to the overall achievement of James’s post-dramatic years. What Maisie Knew and The Awkward Age, even when viewed more particularly, have most often been regarded as "experiments in form,"1 or somewhat ■^Walter Isle, Experiments in Form» Henry James's Novels. 1896-1901 (Cambridge, Mass.» Harvard University Press, 1968). 2 o self-indulgent exercises, which serve as examples of a second apprenticeship that prepared James for the full- fledged achievement of "the major phase".This study- attempts to demonstrate that What Maisie Knew. The Awkward Age, and The Golden Bowl are not isolated productions in the canon of Henry James, nor are they simply representations of the general theory and practice of his later years. These works comprise a three part sequence that evinces the novel- istic application and adaptation of a theatre tradition most clearly described in terms of conventions derived from the commedia dell'arte. The recognition of this shared pattern of method in these novels adds another fruitful dimension to the conception of James as a dramatic novelist. 2 The Awkward Age has borne the brunt of the greatest critical outrage in terms of its "experimental" nature. Joseph Warren Beach, in The Method of Henry James (Philadel­ phia: Alfred Saifer, 1918), termed the novel a mere "technical exercise" because he viewed it as an attempt to adopt the method of Gyp (Sibylle Gabrielle Marie Antoinette de Riquetti de Mirabeau, Countess de Martel de Janville). Beach stated: "The American author overlooked the enormous difference between his own material and that of his French model, who is a mere witty parrot of external 'manners.'" (p. 243) Carl Van Doren found that the novel strains "the most loyal attention to irritation if not disgust," The American Novel (New York: Macmillan, 1940), p. 211. In Henry James: Man and Author (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1927), Pelham Edgar concluded that James "achieved the physical impossibility of making something, and a great deal of something, out of nothing . with the most facile ease in spite of the self- imposed rigours of method to which he subjected himself." (p. 131) ^F. 0. Matthiessen, Henry James: The Major Phase (New York: Oxford University Press, 19£>3). Hereafter noted as, Matthiessen. 3 Criticism of Henry James's later method generally 4 takes its cue from Joseph Warren Beach's early study. Beach found that James’s novels became increasingly dramatic during the course of his long and productive creative life, and Beach further attempted to synthesize James's aesthetic of the dramatic novel from the Notebooks, Prefaces, and critical essays. Following his guidelines, later critics of James's theory and technique have usually defined the term "dramatic" very much as Beach did. They note that James's fiction gradually exhibits a greater distinction between "showing" dramatically and "telling" narratively. This sense of the dramatic novel draws attention to three basic ingredients of the later novels—an increased quantity of quick and witty dialogue and reparte, a deliberate "blocking" of characters as if they were on the stage,and the self-conscious avoid­ ance of authorial intrusion. Beach's groundwork was most significantly continued by Joseph Wiesenfarth, who telescoped James's theory and practice of the dramatic novel down to & three essential terms—Intensity, Economy, and Objectivity. According to these principles, Wiesenfarth examined the major ^The Method of Henry James (Philadelphia» Alfred Saifer, 19187^ Hereafter noted as, Beach. ^Eban Bass, "Dramatic Scene and the Awkward Age," PMLA. LXXIX (March 1964), 148-157. ¿Henry James and the Dramatic Analogy (New York« Fordham University Press, 1963). 4 novels of what he calls the middle period. From Beach to Wiesenfarth, the dominant consideration of James as a drama­ tic novelist has been within the context of a novel's quality of "performance”, as if the novel should aspire to the stage. This was, in fact, a motivating factor in James's theory. Yet, such an approach does not, for all its value, deal with other dimensions