Book
Henry James at Work
Theodora Bosanquet, Hogarth Press (Project Gutenberg edition), 1924
Read the originalRead on October 16, 2026
- What it is
- A memoir by Henry James's typist, who took his dictation from 1907 until his death in 1916. It describes how he composed by dictation, how he revised, and how the dictation changed his style.
- How much weight it carries
- A firsthand account from the person who typed the dictation, so it is strong on method. It is one writer's memory of one author, written after his death, and the 1924 date comes from a secondary listing rather than the text itself.
Facts taken from this source
- By 1907, Henry James's dictation had become a confirmed habit, and his typist said its effect could be seen in his style.
“By 1907 it was a confirmed habit, its effects being easily recognizable in his style” (Chapter on dictation (memoir text))
- Henry James's typist wrote that he found dictation an easier and more inspiring way to compose than writing by hand, even though he said he was too diffuse when dictating.
“he found dictation not only an easier but a more inspiring method of composing than writing with his own hand” (Chapter on dictation (memoir text))
- 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.
“"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” (Chapter on dictation (memoir text))
- Henry James's typist wrote that he worked out the scenes of a book in detail before he began dictating the book itself.
“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” (Chapter on dictation (memoir text))