Reading and the Art of Venturing Into Unknown Territory
During the summer of 2014, I signed up for "Story of the Week" by The Library of America. The first email that landed in my inbox was " Storming the Capital " by George R. Gleig (1796–1888), which is excerpted from The War of 1812: Writings from America's War of Independence . It is the tale of an eighteen-year-old British officer who witnessed the sack of Washington on August 24–25, 1814. Since 2014, I have received more than 450 emails from The Library of America's Story of the Week. To mark each season, I have made it a tradition to select stories sent during periods of the year that are special to me—for example, Christmas, Easter, springtime, midwinter, and American Independence. On July 5, 2015, I first read " The Special Type " by Henry James (1843–1916). It's from Henry James: Complete Stories 1898–1910 . The narrator, a portrait painter, serves as the go-between in a situation involving an American millionaire estranged from his wife...