Fact · Dictation
Henry James's typist wrote that he said he was too diffuse when dictating, and that he considered the gain in expression more than compensated for any loss of concision.
Checked against its source on October 17, 2026
In the source's own words
“"I know," he once said to me, "that I'm too diffuse when I'm dictating." ... he considered that the gain in expression more than compensated for any loss of concision”
Henry James at Work, Theodora Bosanquet, Hogarth Press (Project Gutenberg edition), 1924, Chapter on dictation (memoir text).
Open the original- What it measures
- The memoir gives the remark in the typist's own words, with his judgement of the trade-off that followed it.
- What it does not show
- One author's view of his own method, reported by the person who typed for him. It is not a measured comparison of dictated and handwritten prose.