The Beast in the Jungle

A couple of years ago a friend mentioned that she had only bad memories of being assigned to read Henry James in high school.

I had never heard of Henry James, much less read any of his works, but her comments piqued my interest.

For the past few weeks I have been reading The Portable Henry James. I am surprised how much I enjoy his writing. The Turn of the Screw dragged on but it was just superb, a superb ghost story.

But The Beast in the Jungle has some of the best writing I have ever come across. I find myself reading some passages over and over.

But I can truly understand how a high school student would find Henry James very, very tedious, and literally impossible to read. But I am thrilled that someone happened to mention him. Thank you.


Just Walk On By, Leroy Van Dyke