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Question 1

A diferencia de Emerson y de Whitman, James opinaba, bajo el influjo de Flaubert, que una civilización antigua y compleja es indispensable para el ejercicio del arte.

Answer 1

Unlike [In contrast to] Emerson and Whitman, James opined [maintained], under the influence of Flaubert, that an old and complex civilization is indispensible for the exercise [practice] of art.

Question 2

Creía que el americano era moralmente superior al europeo, pero intelectualmente más simple.

Answer 2

He [James] believed that the American was morally superior to the European, but intellectually much simpler.

Question 3

El tema de sus primeras obras (a una de las cuales nos hemos referido) es el contraste de ambos tipos humanos.

Answer 3

The theme of his first works (to one of which we have referred) is the contrast of both human types.

Question 4

Lambert Strether, protagonista puritano de la novela The Ambassadors (1903), emprende un viaje a París para salvar de su corrupción al joven Chad, a pedido de su madre viuda, Mrs. Newsome, a quien discretamente festeja.

Answer 4

Lambert Strether, Puritan protagonist of the novel The Ambassadors (1903), undertakes a trip to Paris to save young Chad from his corruption, at the request of his widowed mother, Mrs. Newsome, whom he discreetely courts.

Question 5

Acaba por rendirse al encanto de aquella ciudad y por comprender que ha vivido en vano.

Answer 5

He ends by surrendering himself to the enchantment of that city and by understanding [recognizing] that he has lived in vain.

Question 6

Vuelve a América sin embargo, incapaz de vivir plenamente y olvidar su pasado.

Answer 6

He returns to America, however, incapable of living completely [fully] and of forgetting his past.

Question 7

Harto distinta es la novela What Maisie Knew, de 1897, que nos deja entrever un conjunto de hechos abominables a través de la mente de una niñita que los refiere y no los sospecha.

Answer 7

Quite distinct is the novel What Maisie Knew, from 1897, which leaves us to glimpse a series of abominable [awful] deeds through the mind of a young girl who relates them and does not suspect them [their true nature].

Question 8

Los relatos de James son no menos densos que las novelas y de harto más interesante lectura.

Answer 8

James’s tales are no less dense than the novels and much more interesting reading.

Question 9

El más famoso, The Turn of the Screw, es deliberadamente ambiguo y está lleno de horror sutil; ha suscitado tres interpretaciones, todas justificadas por el texto.

Answer 9

The most famous, The Turn of the Screw, is deliberately ambiguous and full of subtle horror; it has provoked three interpretations, all [of them] justified by the text.

Question 10

The Jolly Corner es la historia de un americano que vuelve al cabo de los años a su casa de Nueva York.

Answer 10

“The Jolly Corner” is the story of an American who returns at the end of [after] years [of absence] to his house in New York.

Question 11

La recorre y persigue en la penumbra a una forma humana que huye.

Answer 11

He walks through it and pursues through the darkness a human form which flees.

Question 12

Esa forma doliente y mutilada y parecida a él es el hombre que él mismo hubiera sido, de haber permanecido en América.

Answer 12

This suffering and mutilated form and [which] resembles him is the man he would have been if he had stayed in America.

Question 13

The Figure in the Carpet refiere el caso de un novelista en cuya vasta obra hay un propósito central, invisible al principio, como el dibujo de una intrincada alfombra persa; el escritor muere y un grupo de críticos dedican su vida a descubrir esa forma secreta que nunca encontrarán.

Answer 13

“The Figure in the Carpet” relates the case of a novelist in whose vast work there is a central purpose, invisible at the beginning, like the drawing [design] in an intricate Persian carpet; the writer dies and a group of critics dedicate their lives to discovering this secret form that they will never encounter [find].

Question 14

En The Lesson of the Master aparece también un gran novelista; éste disuade a su secretario de casarse con una joven heredera australiana porque esa unión puede alejarlo de la obra que debe realizar.

Answer 14

In “The Lesson of the Master” there also appears a great novelist; this [one] dissuades his secretary from marrying a young Australian heiress because that union could keep him from work that he must realize [do].

Question 15

El secretario asiente; el maestro se casa con la australiana y no se sabe si el consejo ha sido o no sincero.

Answer 15

The secretary agrees; the master marries the Australian and it is not known if the advice has been sincere or not.

Question 16

The Tree of Knowledge es la historia de un hombre que se dedica a impedir que el hijo de un amigo, escultor, se dé cuenta de la extraordinaria mediocridad de su padre, que ha muerto; en el ultimo párrafo se revela que el hijo siempre ha desdeñado su obra.

Answer 16

“The Tree of Knowledge” is the story of a man who dedicates himself to impeding [preventing] the son of a friend, a sculptor, from discovering the extraordinary mediocrity of his father, who has died; in the last paragraph it is revealed that the son has always disdained [despised] his [father’s] work.

Question 17

Es sintomático de James que en The Great Good Place nos muestre el paraíso bajo la forma de un sanatorio costoso; evidentemente era incapaz de concebir otra felicidad.

Answer 17

It is symptomatic of James that in “The Great Good Place” he shows us paradise under [in] the form of an expensive sanatorium; evidently he was incapable of imagining another [form of] happiness.

Question 18

En The Private Life hay dos protagonistas: uno es un personaje que cuando no está presidiendo un congreso o recibiendo delegaciones o pronunciando un elocuente discurso, desaparece totalmente porque no es nadie; el otro es un poeta que lleva una activa vida social y, sin embargo, produce una obra considerable.

Answer 18

In “The Private Life” there are two protagonists: one is a personage who, when he is not presiding over a congress or receiving delegations or pronouncing [delivering] an eloquent speech, disappears totally because he is nobody; the other is a poet who takes [leads] an active social life and, nevertheless, produces a considerable work.