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Discussion Groups / English Usage / November 2009James: experience/adventure
Hello: I wonder what would be your first reading of "experience" in contrast with "adventures" in "an amount of experience out of any proportion to his adventures" It looks like "wisdom" to me. Also, do you think that the meaning of "conscious as he could after all remain" is probably of "conscious as _only_ he was able after all to remain" ----- [Strether's still under the shock of meeting Mme Vionnet and learning that she was an old school chum of Miss Gostrey] Strether's impressions were still present; it was as if something had happened that "nailed" them, made them more intense; but he was to ask himself soon afterwards, that evening, what really HAD happened— conscious as he could after all remain that for a gentleman taken, and taken the first time, into the "great world," the world of ambassadors and duchesses, the items made a meagre total. It was nothing new to him, however, as we know, that a man might have—at all events such a man as he—an amount of experience out of any proportion to his adventures; so that, though it was doubtless no great adventure to sit on there with Miss Gostrey and hear about Madame de Vionnet, the hour, the picture, the immediate, the recent, the possible—as well as the communication itself, not a note of which failed to reverberate—only gave the moments more of the taste of history. Henry James, The Ambassadors, p. 141 http://www.gutenberg.org/files/432/432-h/432-h.htm ----- -- Thanks. Marius Hancu > Hello: > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > happened that "nailed" them, made them more intense; but he was to ask > himself soon afterwards, that evening, what really HAD happened— he was aware > that for a gentleman taken, and > taken the first time, into the "great world," the world of ambassadors > and duchesses, the items made a meagre total. It was nothing new to > him, however, as we know, that a man might have— a capacity for insight that negates the need for actual experience, >so that, though it was doubtless no great adventure to sit > on there with Miss Gostrey and hear about Madame de Vionnet, the hour, > the picture, the immediate, the recent, the possible—as well as the > communication itself, not a note of which failed to reverberate—only > gave the moments more of the taste of history. What gobbledegook is that? > Henry James, The Ambassadors, p. 141http://www.gutenberg.org/files/432/432-h/432-h.htm > ----- > -- > Thanks. > Marius Hancu On Nov 29, 8:06 am, aquachimp <aquach...@aquachimp.freeserve.co.uk> wrote: > > I wonder what would be your first reading of "experience" in contrast > > with "adventures" in [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > > a capacity for insight that negates the need for actual experience, I'm not sure about the last part (with negating the need for actual experience), but capacity for insight seems to work here. Thank you. Marius Hancu > On Nov 29, 8:06 am, aquachimp <aquach...@aquachimp.freeserve.co.uk> > wrote: [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > I'm not sure about the last part (with negating the need for actual > experience), but capacity for insight seems to work here. A capacity for insight without the need of having had direct experience in the specific matter. >Hello: > >I wonder what would be your first reading of "experience" in contrast >with "adventures" in >"an amount of experience out of any proportion to his adventures" >It looks like "wisdom" to me. Wisdom and experience are not the same thing. There are many people who do not acquire wisdom as a result of their experiences. OED on "experience": 3. The actual observation of facts or events, considered as a source of knowledge. The quoted passage suggests to me that Strether is saying that a man might learn more from his "adventures" than others might by taking a close interest, paying attention to detail and thinking and learning from what he is hearing and seeing. to sit on there with Miss Gostrey and hear about Madame de Vionnet, the hour, the picture, the immediate, the recent, the possible as well as the communication itself, not a note of which failed to reverberate Another type of person might just let the conversation "wash over" him without thinking about the details. >Also, do you think that the meaning of >"conscious as he could after all remain" [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] >http://www.gutenberg.org/files/432/432-h/432-h.htm >-----  SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.usage.english) On Nov 29, 8:42 am, "Peter Duncanson (BrE)" <m...@peterduncanson.net> wrote: > >I wonder what would be your first reading of "experience" in contrast > >with "adventures" in [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Wisdom and experience are not the same thing. There are many people who > do not acquire wisdom as a result of their experiences. I agree with you on the latter sentence, however: ---- experience [among others] practical _wisdom_ resulting from what one has encountered, undergone, or lived through <tell him that he ought to get experience, see the world, join a political party, and ... make sure that he participates in the habitual activities of his society -- Delmore Schwartz> M-W U ---- > OED on "experience": > [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > Another type of person might just let the conversation "wash over" him > without thinking about the details. Thus, for you here "experience" seems to mean "observation?" I think this is a good take on the para. Thanks. Marius Hancu |
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