The word “temper” has to me a slightly old-fashion ring, but of a convincing sort. What rises to my mind is the moment in Henry James’s The Ambassadors when Lambert Strether in Paris goes to pay his final call on the love-crossed Madame de Vionnet, and his historical imagination is prompted to one of its gusts of fancy:
Thus and so, on the eve of the gre…
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Book Post to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.