Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2002. Vol. 8. Eger Journal of American Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 28)

Studies - Judit Borbély: The Writer's Paintings and the Painter's Scenes

We can find a strong similarity between the scene and Renoir's painting, both in the general impression created in the spectator and in the details, be it the setting, the figures, or the ripple of the surface of the water, 'the rustle of the reeds on the opposite bank, the faint diffused coolness and the slight rock of a couple of small boats' (459). However, the idyll of the scene is broken when Strether realises that the man and the woman, who appear to be so familiar with everything, are Chad and Mine de Vionnet, and the deceitfully enchanting view in front of his eyes is in fact nothing but one of a thousand petty loveaffairs, 'the typical tale of Paris' (472). Thus the shift from a Lambinet landscape to an impressionist scene of high life illustrates the thematic development of the episode from Strether's carefree identification of the Lambinet with the rural scenery enveloping him, to his coming face to face with and realising the implications of the sobering reality, in other words from past innocence to present experience. I would like to round off my presentation on paintings in James's works with an example of ekphrasis when the writer paints his own picture without directly or indirectly taking his inspiration from an existing pictorial work of art. We could mention dozens of scenes taking place in streets and city parks or in private homes which James introduces through carefully selected subtle details which result in a strong visual effect, creating the impression that the reader is actually watching a painter who is adding hue to hue until the full picture has unfolded in front of his eyes. Again, it was rather difficult to select the very episode with which 1 can illustrate what I wish to say, for there are so many relevant scenes. The one I have finally chosen is a country scene in The Golden Bowl which is part of the heroes' second stay in the rich house at Fawns. The house and the immense park themselves would be worth talking about as they are being introduced step by step, but considering the time limit I am going to analyse an episode which appears as an entity and which shows James's technique of framing a live scene to combine life and art. The first colours and shapes are drawn already inside the smokingroom where the Princess, i.e. Maggie Verver, is watching her father, het husband (the Prince), Charlotte (her father's wife and also her husband's lover) and Fanny, an old friend, playing bridge: 131