The Altar of the Dead

I enjoyed this story. The progression of the protagonist's "religion" from an almost totemic worship of the dead, to the understated realization that the dead (as well as the living) were part of something larger was interesting to watch unfold. Also the polarization of the reactions of the two main characters regarding their mutual friend/enemy, i.e. total forgetfullness on one hand and obsession on the other, was well thought-out.

James also overcame is love of commas which made this story quite readable : )

In Henry James’ ‘The Altar of the Dead’ , a man, George Stransom, is horrified by the idea of how brief our time is and how quickly we are forgotten and so he builds an altar of candles for the people he has known who have died in an effort to keep their memories alive for a bit longer. There are candles for all of his late acquaintances except for one, who did him a terrible injustice. After some arrangements this altar is installed in a church and the man visits regularly. A woman begins sitting at the altar, also visiting her dead. Eventually, bound by grief, they begin a sort of friendship, until a revelation occurs that seemingly makes their companionship untenable.

The entire story is a sort of literary memento mori , which I show more enjoy, and the writing is itself like multiple candles in the night–both luminous and dark. It’s the sort of story that can be read multiple times without losing its capacity to impress.

The idea of a person not truly being gone until they are forgotten is also covered in Kevin Brockmeier’s quite good The Brief History of the Dead , which is based on the belief of some African tribes that there are three types of people, the living, the recently departed (whom the living still remember) and the dead whose names are only known. show less

The only other James I've read is Wings of the Dove and I wasn't a huge fan. Wings of the Dove reminded me of D. H. Lawrence, in its pretentious rambling on and on about relationships, but always in this rarefied, unrealistic way. That said, I've always meant to give him another chance or two, just to see if my opinion has changed, or his other books or better, you know? So when I saw this I figured it might be a good way to try to break in.

Altar of the Dead is only about 50 pages long and it tells the story of a man who spends his life mourning and celebrating "his Dead," ie those he has loved who are now dead. He meets a fellow mourner who is also a woman, and they develop a friendship slowly and carefully, by means of their shared show more passion.

This story focuses on relationships, both with the living and the dead, and how they influence the other events of our life and other relationships. It's a slower building story, but moves forward with a steady unfolding of the plot. Both of the characters are finely drawn, so the reader can understand them, even though so little is known about either in some ways.

In the end, then, I think this ended up being a fortuitous James choice for me, and makes me think I'm ready to brave a longer work soon. show less

Boring!

The Altar of the Dead is my all-time-favorite by HJ. Inspired!

J'ai lu Dans la cage. Assez étrange : l'histoire d'une employée des télégraphes à la fin du XIXe s. qui rêve à une histoire d'amour avec ses clients (bcp plus riches qu'elle) et qui s'interdit d'en avoir une lorsque cela pourrait marcher. C'est assez étrange, un rythme un peu lent, pas beaucoup d'action. Mais intéressant quand même. A lire.