'A Great Deal of Hesitation and Gurgitation'

“Delightful company – you had to wait – worth it – very literary – enormous vocabulary – great manner, as in books – never smiles – rather appalled by life – cloistral . . . priest – fine eyes – magnificent head -- . . . strong voice – holding table.”

Who is being described and who is the describer? Our writer’s subject is clearly complex, a rare case, at once intimidating and charming. “Rather appalled by life”: Sounds like Dr. Johnson. In a blindfold test that would be my guess. The telegraphese is taken from a notebook left by Max Beerbohm and quoted by Lord David Cecil in his biography, Max (1964). He is describing Henry James, his favorite among the novelists of his time. He especially admired The Wings of the Dove and The Golden Bowl.

I’ve never thought of James’ vocabulary as being notably large. He uses words in formal and eccentric ways, striving for precision, clarifying along the way, inventing adverbs as he needs them. The OED cites his use of preparatively in the preface to the New York Edition of The Wings of the Dove: “Preparatively and, as it were, yearningly, one began, in the event, with the outer ring, approaching the centre thus by narrowing circumvallations.” Today, the word is most often used in chemistry.

One wonders how James’ manner, in prose and conversation, would go over today. His style might be thought of as anti-Twitter. His goal was the systematic unfolding of consciousness, ceaselessly auto-corrected articulation. What wonderful company he would have made. Beerbohm continues: 

“Henry James took a tragic view of everyone, throwing up his hands and closing his eyes to shut out the awful vision. Rocking his chair and talking with tremendous emphasis . . . His talk had great authority . . .  there was a great deal of hesitation and gurgitation before he came out with anything: but it was all the more impressive, for the preparatory rumble.”