course guidelines path one calendar class discussion path two calendar essay prompts reference pages


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What Is Real?

"'in the deceptive atmosphere of art even the highest
respectability may fail of being plastic."
Henry James's "The Real Thing" (1892, 1909)

 

Points for Reflection

H. James’s "The Real Thing" (1892, 1909)

  1. at what moments does James employ his story's title, and how does its meaning and value change over the course of the story? What artistic theory slowly emerges from the narrator as he discusses the limitations of his new models?
  2. how does the narrator respond to the Monarchs' efforts to show off their figures? How does a 21st-century audience respond (OER 72-73)?
  3. does the Monarch marriage appear ideal in any way?
  4. what does the narrator mean by his claim that he has "an innate preference for the represented subject over the real one" (OER 74)?
  5. what types of jobs has the Major applied for in the recent past, and how "low" are he and his wife willing to descend by the end of the story?
  6. does the narrator’s opinion of Raphael Sanzo dovetail with that of the Pre-Raphaelites, and does his implied estimation of Leonardo da Vinci gel with either Pater’s or Ruskin’s opinion of the Renaissance painter (OER 79)?
  7. does Henry James’s reproduction of Miss Charm’s Cockney accent serve to either elevate or denigrate her?
  8. do the Major and his wife evince any virtues unrelated to their relative (small) value as models?
  9. after meeting the Major and his wife, Jack Hawley calls them "ridiculous" and reiterates his claim that they have "no business in a studio" (OER 84). Why, exactly, is he so dismissive?
  10. if you had to sketch the character and temperament of the unnamed narrator, what attributes would you assign him?


a painting of a woman wearing a fancy pink gown witting in a large ornate chair with her head tilted to the side. She is in front of a large wood cabinet and the room is carpeted with red and blue intricate design. She is on the left of the frame, and on the right is a painter sitting painting a portrait of the woman with a large canvas in front of him. There is a man standing behind the painter watching him paint.
The Artist's Studio (1879)
W. S. Gordon

 


Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu