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The Sacred Fount

Henry James

292 ratings
The Sacred Fount | Henry James

The Sacred Fount

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The Sacred Fount delves into the interior observations and obsessions of one Englishman during a weekend gathering in the country. Regarding himself as a master of human psychology, the narrator watches the goings-on of the other guests and weaves theories about the interpersonal implications of what he witnesses, leaving the not infrequently perplexed reader the task of sorting out whether his conclusions are facts or fancies.
should look on the principle suggested to him by the case of the Brissendens, there would be no danger at all of his finding it. If accordingly, I was nervous for Mrs. Server, all I had to do was to keep him on this false scent. Since it was not she who was paid for, but she who possibly paid, his fancy might harmlessly divert him till the party should disperse. At the same time, in the midst of these reflections, the question of the "change" in her, which he was in so much better a position than I to measure, couldn't help having for me its portent, and the sense of that was, no doubt, in my next words. "What makes you think that what you speak of was what I had in my head?"

"Well, the way, simply, that the shoe fits. She's absolutely not the same person I painted. It's exactly like Mrs. Brissenden's having been for you yesterday not the same person you had last seen bearing her name."

"Very good," I returned, "though I didn't in the least mean to set you digging so hard. However, dig on your side, by all means, while I dig on mine. All I ask of you is complete discretion."

"Ah, naturally!"

"We ought to remember," I pursued, even at the risk of showing as too sententious, "that success in such an inquiry may perhaps be more embarrassing than failure. To nose about for a relation that a lady has her reasons for keeping secret——"

"Is made not only quite inoffensive, I hold"—he immediately took me up—"but positively honourable, by being confined to psychologic evidence."

I wondered a little. "Honourable to whom?"

"Why, to the investigator. Resting on the kind of signs that the game takes account of when fairly played—resting on psychologic signs alone, it's a high application of intelligence. What's ignoble is the detective and the keyhole."

"I see," I af

Lee 07/19/2024
So, my theory is that if this novel, from 1901, had been written in France in, say, 1965, it would have seamlessly fit into the nouveau roman category. Is this the real kick-off of 20th century novels? The firs avant-garde work of the avant-garde century? Maybe--I'm too lazy this sunny July morning
Amy 01/21/2024
The worst Henry James is the best Henry James, FIGHT ME
Δημήτριος 09/26/2022
James is a brilliant writer that doesn't quite know when to stop, take a look back, and try to piece together all the elements of his narration into a cohesive whole. I enjoyed reading this book, I have not read anything of the sort before, but at times I was completely befuddled by its narrative. W
Christopher 12/29/2016
This turn-of-the-century novel by James is a surprising throwback to the kind of story he is best known for today: an ambiguous tale told by an unreliable narrator a la _The Turn of the Screw_. The basic idea, that couples come more and more to resemble each other the longer they are associated, is
William 01/10/2015
The key to "The Sacred Fount" is to remember that Henry James loved a good ghost story. An unreliable-seeming narrator describing a supernatural occurrence that, in the end, nobody else has actually seen, with a rather ambiguous conclusion, is much more "The Turn of the Screw" then, say, "What Maisi
Rosemary 05/08/2008
I'm not sure whether I was supposed to find this book funny and delightful or not, but I did. The plot of the novel is a bit hard to figure. Its narrator is a leisured society man who notices some unexpected changes in a few of the guests on a weekend social engagement: a dull, middle-aged bachelor
Jesse 09/17/2007
Reading The Sacred Fount is a lot of work but a worthwhile endeavor for the veteran James reader. The short novel stands out among James' work for its use of a first-person narrator (this is unique among James' novels) and, loosely, the structure and lingo of a detective story. James' narrator goes

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