Fact · Dictation
Henry James's typist wrote that he worked out the scenes of a book in detail before he began dictating the book itself.
Checked against its source on October 16, 2026
In the source's own words
“These scenes he worked out until he felt himself so thoroughly possessed of the action that he could begin on the dictation of the book itself”
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 describes how James planned a work in scenes, sometimes through performances, before dictating the full text.
- What it does not show
- A description of one author's method for a few late novels, from the person who typed them. It is not a general rule for dictated books.