Henry James's "organic form" and classical rhetoric

Although in this essay I have simply described a plausible correspondence without analyzing its motivation two explanatory hypotheses at least could be put forward: direct influence from rhetorical sources, or manifestation of a more or less universal trend in the making of literary discourse. To my mind, the correspondence I have traced does not stem from a direct bearing of rhetoric on James's creative thought, since not a single explicit rhetorical term or clearly identifiable rhetorical notion has found its way into the mainstream of his critical writings. (On the other hand, the references to the organic doctrine are numerous, though rather perfunctory as I have suggested.) In addition, the identification of two different phases within the operation of dispositio is a recent achievement; they certainly existed in ancient rhetorical treatises, but the explicit discrimination between them is the result of looking at rhetoric in the light of text linguistics. Obviously, if the dual character of dispositio is the common factor that makes comparison possible, and this factor dates back only to the 1980s, direct influence is eliminated as the motivation of the parallel examined in this essay. Rather, the homology between the two dimensions of dispositio and the two compositional stages distinguished in James can be viewed as the key link in the general chain of discourse production, which extends from the discovery of the topic or germ by means of formalizing an area of experience to its final verbalization after it has been adequately expanded and organized. Any attempt at providing evidence to support or reject either of these hypotheses on solid grounds, however, clearly exceeds the scope of this study.(11)

FOOTNOTES

1 Introduction to The Art of the Novel xvi. I shall refer to this work as AN in the text. For similar comments by lesser critics see Maini 194.

2 See Abrams 213-17 on unconscious invention.

3 As a mere instance of this debate, we can mention the opposing views held by Vivien Jones and Timothy P. Martin. According to the former, James's position is markedly formalistic since the representation of reality gives way to technique and method. Conversely, the latter argues that James puts his mimetic ideals above everything else, and ascribes all elements of formalism to his interpreter Percy Lubbock.

4 Orsini considers this passage by Plato a milestone in the evolution of literary criticism: "Plato made an important contribution to aesthetics in the Phaedrus when he enunciated the principle of the organic unity of composition, which was to become the keystone of later systems of criticism. Plato definitively affirmed its value for the judgement of poetry, and not only for oratory, as has been thought" ("Ancient Roots" 20).

5 See for instance Orsini: "the 'growth' of a poem from its beginning as a mere flash of inspiration" ("Organic Concepts" 5); Beach: "He [James] describes the process indeed as if he had little to do with it other than to record it: 'The steps for my fable placed themselves...'" (23, emphasis added). James himself declares that a "novel is a living thing," though he immediately adds "like any other organism" ("The Art of Fiction" 392, emphasis added) .