"A Most Unholy Trade," Being Letters on the Drama by Henry James

Chapter 2: NOTE

Open in WeRead

Explore more books like this:

Essays, Letters & Speeches Plays/Films/Dramas

About This Book

A sequence of four letters from Henry James examines the theatrical art through a close reading of an Ibsen play and commentary on contemporary stagecraft. James praises the play’s intensity and discusses the effects of pacing and concentrated cast size, and he evaluates the potential of scenes and acts to produce crescendo and solemnity in performance. He balances admiration with practical criticism of another dramatist’s choices, addressing subject clarity, character contrasts, and the need to shape suspense for a general audience. The correspondence blends aesthetic reflection with candid, technical advice about staging, characterization, and the challenges of actable drama.

NOTE

The four letters here printed for the first time are part of Henry James’s informal correspondence with William Heinemann, the publisher. They are selected for their unity of subject, in that they concern themselves with James’s impressions of Ibsen’s “Little Eyolf” and contain some general remarks on the drama. Written about the time of the publication of the first and second series of James’s Theatricals, they indicate his ideas at the time when his consideration of the subject was most intense. Acknowledgment is made to Mrs. J. Tucker Murray and to Pierre de Chaignon la Rose, Esq., for permission to print two of these letters.