Condescension and the novel

Finished reading intro to Henry James's The Princess Casamassima - after initial highly abstract and almost comically impenetrable discussion of his narrative technique - doesn't he want us to read this novel? - James at last devotes a few paragraphs to the theme of the p c as he sees it - a young radical who becomes disillusioned because he comes into contact w a different and more beautiful way of life - yet the tragedy is that he is so honest and sincere that ha cannot renounce his revolutionary vow to commit an act of terrorism. Is it possible however that one would see the injustice of society and commit to act in some way other than terrorism? Is it possible that the young radical would see a different kind of life and reject it w contempt? James has a capacious mind but it seems at times that James is not able to fully accept a working-class character as a complete person - the working-class men and women are in his view, doltish and benighted until freed from the narrow perspective of their class - thru contact w the nobility or, as in Hyacinth's case, thru their noble blood. We readers can actually see around the edges of James's characters more precisely, and with greater sympathy and understanding, than he can - his imagination is capacious but his empathy is limited by his own class prejudices - he's the master, and the master of condescension as well.
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