Henry James An old man at a Market

“Distance enforces a romantic view”-Gopnik Expatriates

For centuries Paris has been known as the central of the world, where writers, musicians, dancers, and painters have roamed the streets as expatriates. They embrace this idea of being a cosmopolite, living in a place where one is always in a continuous comparative state of mind. This meaning of being a cosmopolite, one of “That uncomfortable consequence of seeing many lands and feeling at home in none” (128,James). This idea of feeling at home in a land to the unknown is something that tends to lead to great discoveries, being in a place where one is not familiar allows for new perspectives on their life or others. It gives them a chance to truly see, allowing them conjure up dreams and illusions of themselves being in a home that only they can create and allude to. Having read Expatriates by Gopnik one can see how Paris has become a home away from home for many writers and artists during the 19th century. Including the three main writers we have been studying so far, Hemingway, Stein and James.

“The Parisian achievement was to have made, in the nineteenth century, two ideas of society: the Haussmannian idea of Bourgeois order and comfort, and the avant-garde of la vie bohème”(Gopnik 13)

Gopnik explains how there are two ways of living in Paris, one being la vie bohème this idea of eccentricity, of danger of passion, one of drinking, being shocked and teased by the devilish delights. The other Haute Bourgeoisie, they live for the sophistication and elegance this city embraces, they taste the food, they view the arts, and embrace the true beauty that is Paris. Throughout the 19th to 20th century artists full of hunger with their cravings of new outlooks on life, they yearned for new eccentric characters to meet, and sights to see.  “From then on, for almost a century, Paris remains a kind of literary laboratory, where American style gets made and proffered in refined form, form the curlicues of James and Wharton to the baroque comedy of Liebling and the sudden simplifications of Gertrude stein and Ernest Hemingway”(Gopnik 14). As seen Paris became this ideological place for lost souls and rich beauties to parade the streets together. 

Hemingway's style of writing is with a certain air of economical and understated perception with tight prose and avoidance of complicated syntax. However with these seemingly 'basic' stylized writing techniques he masters perfectly that of ‘art narrative’, he manages to use words to create emotions instead of describing the feelings to illustrate the picture. He is known to simplify that of Gertrude Stein’s poetic writings and overlay them with narrative and straightforwardness to his technique; it's almost like a documentary style of writing. This idea of taking what things are is apparent in James's writing as well, the way Henry James approaches Occasional Paris is with that direct view of Paris, and distinguishes how he feels about Paris and how a foreigner interacts or connects with this mystical place. He seems rather cynical about the ways others see this place, or how he himself see's Paris and relates to it. James describes like Hemingway the bluntness of what is this infatuating city; they both in different styles maintain the simplicity of the truth. In James Occasional Paris he sees “that simple foreigners may it make the picturesque; for certainly the elements in the picture" he had "just sketched" were "not especially exquisite"(James, Henry). This idea of reality in the eyes of tourist or a simple foreigner is not as so dazzling as it seems, that there are in fact claws underneath the velvet glove. However James allows time for romance and beauty to seize the complex sentences on his pages, unlike Hemingway but similar to Stein. Stein permits humour and playfulness along with poetic proses to illustrate the dreams and reality she finds within her stay. Gertrude Stein, a symbol of a modernist literate and literary innovator, works with this linear temporal conventions, she uses her inspiration within the modern arts to inspire and motivate fascinating and lyrically written pieces. Thus all three writers have similarities wither it be in the themes of their writing or in the style used, each philosophy evidently alters with each perception of the artist. However with that said each one of them appreciate and love Paris in a way that can be seen in their pieces, they may not illustrate it in the same façon, but they allow for one another to venture into their own personal worlds of the Parisian life they lived and experienced.

An experience of mine when once strolling around with my basket in the closest market in the Marais, a man with a long white beard and all in white began to talk to me, he was an author from California Lunar was his name. Walking thru the market with time to spare, he politely asked if he could accompany me in my stroll around the little enchanting market. We began to discuss the arts of Paris compared to the arts in LA, he began analyzing me as a person and artists and built up his own perception. His tired eyes, and string like lines slightly covered by his grey haired beard, I saw he was an old man with many stories and many experiences to share. He came to Paris to find peace and an embracement that Paris can only do so well, we stumbled upon the topic of the Eiffel tower, for he was on his way to see it for the first time in 4o years. He had a glistening in his eyes as he said it, and with a curling grin marking each side of his cheeks his whispered to me in his low rough voice, "the Eiffel tower is meant to be a famous piece of lingerie on a leg of a woman". It had amazed me for I never though of the Eiffel tower as a woman in lingerie before, but to me it seemed very clear once he said it. Paris is very feminine, with all its secrets and talents, along with simplistic beauty but sinister ways; it reminds me of how Henry James describes the "mystery" of Paris. 

Like that old man in the market, James also describes Paris to be a woman, with her secrets and seductive ways. Paris represented 'life' in James's The Velvet Glove; Paris represented the Princess in his story, the Olympian like wonder in his romance-illustrated version of this city. He creates this character that symbolized what Paris is to him, this dangerous woman, who can ignore one at any moment or day and destroy one without any guilt, or tempt you the next second. Paris has very much influenced James in how he writes in the Velvet Glove, as Gopnik says that “For James, Paris is romance itself, that is to say, approachable but unobtainable, to be wooed but possibly never won.”(Gopnik 18) Just like the last scene in his Velvet Glove he passionilly places his lips onto hers, and sighs, "Princess, I adore you" for he knows he has fallen in love with the princess’s embodiment. Even though this city to him is exuberant with vitality and with its intensity and passion towards everything of the arts and of the relishes of ones mind, it can be seen in his Occasional Paris, that he sees the darker shadows within the mesmerizing streets, hiding sinister stories.

After reading some ideas of a Belgian author who's studied James work, Jeanne Delbaere-Garant managed to encapsulate what Henry James felt Paris embodied and that of which "The only life that matters and that dangerous fascinating creatures might attempt to kill is the life of the soul, the profound integrity of the individual and the artist’s unflinching faithfulness to his art. But between the French bourgeoisie—whom James’s prejudices at the time prevented him from liking—and the Princess—whom he likes—there has been the experience of Paris, of which the Princess is the living embodiment. " (Delbaere-Garant, Jeanne). Meaning that the story of The Velvet Glove hides through words the way James feels about Paris and what it represents, he explains in his own way through the characters interactions with one another that the rich and beautiful cannot live without the melancholy artists who use the characters they meet in places such as Glorioani's Olympian like studios to inspire their fantasies.

 The haute bourgeoisie must mingle with the Avant grade bohemians and vise versa for both societies view the others in awe and wonderment, the Olympians get a thrill to be written about to be talked about, to see the arts that of modernism. Whilst the poet, the painter, the writer amused by the escapades of the wealthy feed on their natures or perhaps envy their lifestyles and fabricate their personal illusion of their reality. Thus the way Henry James perceives Paris’s mystery is one of a tempting woman, whose eyes lingers but never tells, who tease but never stay. He allows for the reader to embark on a tale of a Parisian night, where the thrill of it all comes into play. Even though in the Velvet Glove, he describes this romance inspired love story based on his personal experiences. There are still things about Paris that do remain a mystery for him, for which he does not want to ponder upon, Paris is a place for freedom and wonderment, a place where you can laugh the night away on wine, and listen to musicians or artists talk about the depths of their soul, you see writers narrating the night, and the dancers moving lyrically as day light gets brighter.

The way James illustrates Paris in Occasional Paris he is weary of the darker sides Paris has, he takes Paris for what it really is, not the fictitious image that all foreigners see. However the experiences he has demonstrated in a fantasy like scenario in the Velvet Glove demonstrates his love for it. There is always good and bad in a place and the way James seems to tie everything together in when in his story “he kissed the Princess’s hand with all the intensity of his passion, aware all the time, however, of the threatening claws inside the velvet glove.” (Delbeanne-Garant, Jeanne).