Henry James
Henry James (1843-1916) was an American author of novels, short stories, plays, and non-fiction. He spent most of his life in Europe, and much of his work regards the interactions and complexities between American and European characters. Among his works in this vein are The Portrait of a Lady (1881), The Bostonians (1886), and The Ambassadors (1903). Through his influence, James ushered in the era of American realism in literature. In his lifetime he wrote 12 plays, 112 short stories, 20 novels, and many travel and critical works. He was nominated three times for the Noble Prize in Literature.
Read more from Henry James
The Turn of the Screw Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRoderick Hudson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Henry James: The Complete Novellas and Tales (Centaur Classics) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Europeans Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gothic Novel Collection Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The American Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Badass Prepper's Handbook: Everything You Need to Know to Prepare Yourself for the Worst Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Golden Bowl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bostonians Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Turn of the Screw and Other Short Works Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gothic Classics: 60+ Books in One Volume Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Beast in the Jungle Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Harvard Classics: All 71 Volumes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Oxford Book of American Essays Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Daily Henry James: A Year of Quotes from the Work of the Master Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/550 Feminist Masterpieces you have to read before you die (Golden Deer Classics) Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Wings of the Dove Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Greatest American Short Stories: 50+ Classics of American Literature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Greatest American Short Stories (Vol. 1) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Bushcraft Bible: The Ultimate Guide to Wilderness Survival Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings50 Masterpieces of Occult & Supernatural Fiction Vol. 1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings30 Occult & Supernatural masterpieces you have to read before you die (Golden Deer Classics) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsItalian Hours: “The right time is any time that one is still so lucky as to have.” Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to The Diary of a Man of Fifty
Related ebooks
The Diary of a Man of Fifty Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLawrence Clavering Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStories by American Authors (Volume 4) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gorilla Hunters (Musaicum Adventure Classics): Adventure Novel: A Tale of the Wilds of Africa Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Priest's Tale - Père Etienne From "The New Decameron", Volume III. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gorilla Hunters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gorilla Hunters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnder the Southern Cross Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrank and I: A Study of Flagellation in England Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWindyridge Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsADVENTURES IN WALLYPUG LAND - 17 Children's Adventures in Wallypug Land Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Patagonia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrédérique; vol. 2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Europeans Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Keepian Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gorilla Hunters: Adventure Novel: A Tale of the Wilds of Africa Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGOBLIN FACE - An Old English Bedtime Story: Baba Indaba’s Children's Stories - Issue 314 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Europeans: “It takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature.” Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRanald Bannerman's Boyhood (Illustrated Edition): The Adventures in Scottish Highlands (Autobiographical Novel) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Professor's Mystery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCarmilla Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Romance Of Giovanni Calvotti From Coals Of Fire And Other Stories, Volume II. (of III.) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Garden God Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnd Even Now Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe First Men in the Moon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Room in the Dragon Volant Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Reviews for The Diary of a Man of Fifty
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
The Diary of a Man of Fifty - Henry James
The Diary of a Man of Fifty, by Henry James
The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Diary of a Man of Fifty, by Henry James
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: The Diary of a Man of Fifty
Author: Henry James
Release Date: May 8, 2005 [eBook #2426]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DIARY OF A MAN OF FIFTY***
Transcribed from the 1887 Macmillan and Co. edition by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk
THE DIARY OF A MAN OF FIFTY
by Henry James
Florence, April 5th, 1874.—They told me I should find Italy greatly changed; and in seven-and-twenty years there is room for changes. But to me everything is so perfectly the same that I seem to be living my youth over again; all the forgotten impressions of that enchanting time come back to me. At the moment they were powerful enough; but they afterwards faded away. What in the world became of them? Whatever becomes of such things, in the long intervals of consciousness? Where do they hide themselves away? in what unvisited cupboards and crannies of our being do they preserve themselves? They are like the lines of a letter written in sympathetic ink; hold the letter to the fire for a while and the grateful warmth brings out the invisible words. It is the warmth of this yellow sun of Florence that has been restoring the text of my own young romance; the thing has been lying before me today as a clear, fresh page. There have been moments during the last ten years when I have fell so portentously old, so fagged and finished, that I should have taken as a very bad joke any intimation that this present sense of juvenility was still in store for me. It won’t last, at any rate; so I had better make the best of it. But I confess it surprises me. I have led too serious a life; but that perhaps, after all, preserves one’s youth. At all events, I have travelled too far, I have worked too hard, I have lived in brutal climates and associated with tiresome people. When a man has reached his fifty-second year without being, materially, the worse for wear—when he has fair health, a fair fortune, a tidy conscience and a complete exemption from embarrassing relatives—I suppose he is bound, in delicacy, to write himself happy. But I confess I shirk this obligation. I have not been miserable; I won’t go so far as to say that—or at least as to write it. But happiness—positive happiness—would have been something different. I don’t know that it would have been better, by all measurements—that it would have left me better off at the present time. But it certainly would have made this difference—that I should not have been reduced, in pursuit of pleasant images, to disinter a buried episode of more than a quarter of a century ago. I should have found entertainment more—what shall I call it?—more contemporaneous. I should have had a wife and children, and I should not be in the way of making, as the French say, infidelities to the present. Of course it’s a great gain to have had an escape, not to have committed an act of thumping folly; and I suppose that, whatever serious step one might have taken at twenty-five, after a struggle, and with a violent effort, and however one’s conduct might appear to be justified by events, there would always remain a certain element of regret; a certain sense of loss lurking in the sense of gain; a tendency to wonder, rather wishfully, what might have been. What might have been, in this case, would, without doubt, have been very sad, and what has been has been very cheerful and comfortable; but there are nevertheless two or three questions I might ask myself. Why, for instance, have I never married—why have I never been able to care for any woman as I cared for that one? Ah, why are the mountains blue and why is the sunshine warm? Happiness mitigated by impertinent conjectures—that’s about my ticket.
6th.—I knew it wouldn’t last; it’s already passing away. But I