The Private Life

In Henry James' widely acclaimed short story "The Private Life" written in 1893, the storyteller makes shocking realizations around two individuals from his holiday party while their stay in a village in the Swiss Alps. After an evening spent paying attention to the casual conversation of the London playwright Clarence "Clare" Vawdrey, he goes up to Vawdrey's room where he sees, "bent over the table in the attitude of writing", the person that he thought was left downstairs along with his other friends. Vawdrey, it appears, is double: the first one is his public self, which as per the storyteller is troubled by "neither moods nor sensibilities", and the second one is his private life, his writing persona, which remains concealed.The conveniently charming storyteller Lord Mellifont, in the meantime, experiences the "opposite complaint". According to the narrator, Lord Mellifont is "all public", and has "no corresponding private life". Behind the immaculate mask of his public persona, there is absolutely nothing. Lord Mellifont is all just a show.