I can only welcome something I can heartily agree with. Maybe mr. James was mostly referring to Mme Bovary, the novel that has been transformed into too many movies.(where depth of character is a standing issue)
I must say I read "Trois contes" of which "Un Coeur Simple"is the first, a long time ago.
But I remember how "Un coeur simple" was very moving and beautiful.Beauty creates deep consiousness (I think) independent from the depth of conciousness of characters. I think you verbalized it better than I can.I went through my French books and saw I got two copies. The first, and my first read from
1956. The second from 1983, where I must have bought it again thinking the first one was lost.

Added: Edit:Thinking on, do you mean (I suppose you mean)a writer can describe a character in such way that the character of that person becomes sufficiently clear from the surrounding events/ atmosphere, surrounding details?

Last edited by BranShea; 10/08/07 08:16 PM.