Henry James Sr.
Henry James Sr. | |
---|---|
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. | |
Education | Union College Princeton Theological Seminary |
Occupation | Theologian |
Spouse |
Mary Robertson Walsh
(m. 1840; died 1882) |
Children | |
Signature | |
Henry James Sr. (June 3, 1811 – December 18, 1882) was an American theologian and the father of the philosopher William James, the novelist Henry James, and the diarist Alice James.
Following a dramatic moment of spiritual enlightenment, he became deeply absorbed in
Early life
James was born on June 3, 1811, in
At the age of thirteen, he was severely burned trying to stamp out a fire in a barn, and lost a leg to amputation. The three years he was bedridden reinforced his studious disposition. After attending
Career
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Upon James's return to New York in 1838, he prepared an edition of
Swedenborgianism
Around 1841, James began to be interested in
Emerson introduced James to Thomas Carlyle. But it was in the work of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772), the Swedish scientist, religious visionary and teacher, that James found a spiritual home. In May 1844, while living in Windsor, in England, James was sitting alone one evening at the family dinner table after the meal, gazing at the fire, when he had the defining spiritual experience of his life, which he would come to interpret as a Swedenborgian "vastation," a stage in the process of spiritual regeneration. This experience was an apprehension of, in his own words, "a perfectly insane and abject terror, without ostensible cause, and only to be accounted for, to my perplexed imagination, by some damned shape squatting invisible to me within the precincts of the room, and raying out from his fetid personality influences fatal to life."[3]
James's "vastation" initiated a spiritual crisis that lasted two years, and was finally resolved through the thorough exploration of the work of Swedenborg and
In 1845, James again returned to the United States and began a lifetime of lecturing about his spiritual discoveries. He devoted his mornings to writing, and published a number of discursive volumes devoted to the exposition of his thought.[4]
Social thought
In the late 1840s, James became interested in the former members of
James was a stern critic of the "gross materiality" of American society, and found in Fourier's thought a useful critique. He held most of the leading writers of his day in low regard, with the possible exception of
James was an advocate of many social reforms, including the abolition of slavery and the liberalization of divorce.
Theology
Theologically, James was out of sympathy with the
Later years
Although the ideas of James were received by his contemporaries with little enthusiasm, and although he was altogether out of sympathy with his age's enthusiasm for science, he never grew discouraged; in fact, some of the best expositions of his thought are to be found in the volumes of his later years. He participated actively in the lives of his children, whose education he had done so much to shape. His society was cultivated by many, who enjoyed his conversation—provided that they were strong enough to bear the sometimes devastating criticism he offered. He delighted in paradox and exaggeration and enjoyed flouting convention. But he shunned formal society, which he found uncongenial. He wrote: "The bent of my nature is towards affection and thought rather than action. I love the fireside rather than the forum."
Legacy
I met Henry James the other night at
Thanksgiving Day that he proposes to convert the criminal, but by a true sympathy with each one,—with him, among the rest, who lying tells the world from the gallows that he has never been treated kindly by a single mortal since he was born. But it is not so easy a thing to sympathize with another, though you may have the best disposition to do it. There is Dobson over the hill. Have not you and I and all the world been trying to sympathize with him since he was born (as doubtless he with us), and yet we have got no further than to send him to the House of Correction once at least; and he, on the other hand, has sent us to another place several times. This is the real state of things as I understand it, at least so far as James's remedies. We are now, alas! exercising what charity we actually have, and new laws would not give us any more. But perchance, we might make some improvements in the House of Correction. You and I are Dobson; what will James do for us?[6]
Personal life
On July 28, 1840, James was married to Mary Robertson Walsh (1810–1882), the sister of a fellow Princeton seminarian, by the mayor of New York, in his bride's house on Washington Square. The couple lived in New York, and together had five children:[8]
- William James (1842–1910), a philosopher and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States.[9][10][11][12]
- Henry James Jr. (1843–1916), an author considered to be among the greatest novelists in the English language who was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911, 1912, and 1916.[13]
- Robertson "Bob" James (1846–1910), who married Mary Lucinda Holton (1849–1922).[14]
- Alice James (1848–1892), a writer who became well known for her diary published posthumously in 1934 with a more complete version published in 1964.[14]
James's marriage was a happy one, and when Mary James died on January 29, 1882, his will to live seemed to die with her. His work on yet another volume flagged, and he fell into a state of indolence. He rallied briefly after visits from his sons, called to his side by his daughter, Alice. But he suffered a relapse after Henry Jr. and William left on excursions to Europe. His famous sons never saw him alive again. He died on December 18, 1882, at his residence on Vernon Street in Boston.[16][17]
On the same day, his son Henry's boat docked in New York on his way back to see his father. William James, in London at the time, was kept from full knowledge of his father's decline in order not to interfere with a much needed vacation; when he learned that his father was on his deathbed, four days before his final demise, William James wrote a moving letter that his father never read. In it, the famous psychologist wrote:
In that mysterious gulf of the past into which the present will soon fall and go back and back, yours is still for me the central figure. All my intellectual life I derive from you; and though we have often seemed at odds in the expression thereof I'm sure there's a harmony somewhere, & that our strivings will combine. What my debt to you is goes beyond all my power of estimating,—so early, so penetrating and so constant has been the influence. ... Good night my sacred old Father. If I don't see you again—Farewell! a blessed farewell![18]
Henry Sr. made Henry Jr. the executor of his estate, which caused resentment from his eldest son William.[19] Under the terms of his will, Wilkie received a smaller share of the estate than his siblings, because his father felt that he had advanced enough money to him in his lifetime which had been lost in failed business ventures. However, Henry, Alice and Bob felt badly about Wilkie, who suffered from a heart condition and rheumatic fever after injuries incurred in the Civil War, so they decided to redistribute the estate equally. William strongly disagreed with this, arguing that it was easier for Alice and Henry to forfeit a larger share of the estate to Wilkie because they did not have families of their own to support.[20] The matter had not been resolved when Wilkie died in November 1883, less than a year after his father.[21]
Bibliography
- Moralism and Christianity; or Man's Experience and Destiny (1850), AMS Press reprint: ISBN 0-404-10084-8
- Lectures and Miscellanies (1852)
- The Church of Christ Not an Ecclesiasticism (1854) AMS Press 1983 reprint: ISBN 0-404-10082-1
- The Nature of Evil, Considered in a Letter to the Rev. Edward Beecher, D.D., Author of "The Conflict of Ages" (1855) AMS Press 1983 reprint ISBN 0-404-10086-4
- Christianity the Logic of Creation (1857) AMS Press 1983 reprint: ISBN 0-404-10080-5
- The Social Significance of Our Institutions (1861)
- Substance and Shadow; or Morality and Religion in Their Relation to Life (1863) AMS Press 1983 reprint: ISBN 0-404-10088-0
- The Secret of Swedenborg, Being an Elucidation of His Doctrine of the Divine Natural Humanity (1869) AMS Press 1983 reprint: ISBN 0-404-10087-2
- Society the Redeemed Form of Man, and the Earnest of God's Omnipotence in Human Nature, Affirmed in Letters to a Friend (1879)
- The Literary Remains of Henry James (1885), edited by his son, ISBN 0-8398-0950-6
See also
References
- ^ Johnson, Rossiter; Brown, John Howard, eds. (1904). The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans. Vol. VI. Boston: The Biographical Society. Retrieved April 28, 2022 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Habegger, Alfred (2001). The Father: A Life of Henry James Sr., p. 60. University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst.
- ^ quoted in F.W. Dupee, "Henry James," Sloan, 1951.
- ^ "The philosophy of Henry James Sr. – Princeton University Library Catalog". catalog.princeton.edu. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
- ^ C. Hartley Grattan.The Three James: A Family of Minds: Henry James Sr., William James, Henry James (N.Y. Univ. Press, 1962 [orig. ed. 1932], p. 75).
- ^ quoted in The Three James, p. 84 and in Ralph Barton Perry, The Thought and Character of William James [Boston: Little, Brown, 1936], vol. 1, pp. 149–50
- ^ "Henry James Sr., and Henry James Jr". si.edu. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
- Harvard University Library. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
- ^ T.L. Brink (2008) Psychology: A Student Friendly Approach. "Unit One: The Definition and History of Psychology". p. 10
- The Library of America. June 1, 1992. Retrieved September 21, 2013.
- ^ "William James: Writings 1902–1910". The Library of America. February 1, 1987. Retrieved September 21, 2013.
- ^ Megan E. Bradley. "William James". PSYography. Faculty.frostburg.edu. Archived from the original on November 24, 2014. Retrieved September 21, 2013.
- ^ "Nomination Database". www.nobelprize.org. Archived from the original on 16 July 2017.
- ^ a b c Yoder Jr, Edwin M. (August 24, 1986). "Garth and Robertson James: Younger Brothers to Genius". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
- ISBN 9780813916941. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
- ^ "Henry James Dead: Peaceful and Happy End of the Celebrated Writer". Star Tribune. Milwaukee. December 20, 1882. p. 4. Retrieved April 28, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Obituary: Death of Henry James Sr. in Boston – General Mortuary News". Chicago Tribune. Boston, Massachusetts. December 20, 1882. p. 5. Retrieved April 28, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Correspondence of William James, vol. 5: 1878–1884, edited by Ignas K. Skrupskelis & Elizabeth M. Berkeley with the assistance of Wilma Bradbeer [Charlottesville and London: University of Virginia Press, 1997], pp. 327–28)
- ^ Leon Edel (1975). Henry James Letters Vol. 2: 1875–1883. Belknap Press of Harvard University. p. 328.
- ^ Edel, 1975; p. 400
- ^ Leon Edel (1980). Henry James Letters Vol. 3: 1883–1895. Belknap Press of Harvard University. p. 16.
Further reading
- Deck, R. H. "Notes on the Theology of Henry James Sr." Psychohistory Rev. 1979 Summer–Fall; 8(1-2):60-2.
- Edel, Leon. Henry James Letters Vol. 2: 1875–1883. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University, 1975.
- Feinstein, Howard M. Becoming William James. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1984. A psychological interpretation of Henry James Sr. as son and father.
- Grattan, C. Hartley. The Three Jameses: A Family of Minds: Henry James Sr., William James, Henry James. 1932. Introduction by Oscar Gargill. New York University Press, 1962. Book II is devoted to Henry James Sr.
- Habegger, Alfred. The Father: A Life of Henry James Sr. ISBN 1-55849-331-X
- Lewis, R.W.B. The Jameses: A Family Narrative. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1991. ISBN 0-374-17861-5
- Matthiessen, F.O. The James Family, Including Selections from the Writings of Henry James, Senior, William, Henry, & Alice James. New York: Alfred Knopf 1947. Vintage Books 1980 edition: ISBN 0-394-74243-5. Contains selections from Henry James Sr.'s Autobiography, a fragment from The Literary Remains of Henry James; some of his letters to Emerson; an extract from Moralism and Christianity; and extracts from The Social Significance of Our Institutions.
- Perry, Ralph Barton. The Thought and Character of William James, As Revealed in Unpublished Correspondence and Notes, Together with His Published Writings. Vol. I: Inheritance and Vocation. Boston: Little, Brown, 1936. Greenwood reprint: ISBN 0-8265-1279-8. Part I ("His Father's Son") delves into the life of Henry James Sr.
- Taylor, Andrew. Henry James and the Father Question. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
External links
- Biography of James Archived December 17, 2016, at the PBS
- "Love, Marriage, and Divorce and the Sovereignty of the Individual" – a discussion between Henry James Sr., Horace Greeley, and Stephen Pearl Andrews, (1853) Second edition 1889
- Chapter Six of The Swedenborgianized Fourierism of Henry James Sr.: A Study in Pathology
- Review of The Secret of Swedenborg from North American Review v. 110, 1870, pp. 463–468
- Encyclopedia Americana. 1920. .