女優の肖像 : ヘンリー・ジェイムズのThe Tragic Muse(<特集>ヘンリー・ジェイムズ『悲劇の詩神』をめぐって-「読み」の可能性を探る-)

概要

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Henry James, who was a lifelong theater lover, made an attempt to study "histrionic temperament" in The Tragic Muse. James employs two famous portraits of great tragediennes: Mrs. Siddons as the Tragic Muse, by Joshua Reynolds and Portrait of Rachel by Jean-Leon Gerome in this work. What interested James in these portraits seems to be the fact that they both represent the fusion of actress, model, and muse. The character Miriam Rooth is also referred to as "the Tragic Muse," and she also plays the three roles referred to above. The painter Nick Dormer, whose talent up to this point has been mediocre, embarks on an "inspired flight" when he paints the portrait of actress/muse Miriam. However, the aesthete Gabriel Nash criticizes Miriam as an actress for stooping to accommodate the vulgar taste of the general public. Even Peter Sherringham, who is Miriam's admirer and suitor, complains that she is so engaged in the business of "make-believe" that she has lost her true self. The thrust of this article is to point out that, in spite of these unfavorable judgments, it is still possible to regard Miriam as the serious and devoted type of artist like many of James's other fictional characters. This is true in the sense that her voraciously passionate sensibility enables her to capture and embody on stage what James calls "the air of reality".
2009-03-31