Nine of James’s most important tales, including (new to the second edition) “In the Cage,” a tale that engages James’s complicated attitudes toward gender, class, and the rise of information technology.
“The Author on His Craft” again reprints James’s critical essay “The Art of Fiction” and related passages from his notebooks, including a new passage on “In the Cage.” “Criticism” has been entirely updated and includes ten new essays by critics who during the last twenty-five years have helped to establish the lines of debate about James’s tales. An updated Selected Bibliography is also included.
Henry James (15 April 1843 – 28 February 1916) was an American author regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the son of Henry James Sr. and the brother of renowned philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James.
He is best known for a number of novels dealing with the social and marital interplay between emigre Americans, English people, and continental Europeans – examples of such novels include The Portrait of a Lady, The Ambassadors, and The Wings of the Dove. His later works were increasingly experimental. In describing the internal states of mind and social dynamics of his characters, James often made use of a personal style in which ambiguous or contradictory motivations and impressions were overlaid or closely juxtaposed in the discussion of a single character’s psyche. For their unique ambiguity, as well as for other aspects of their composition, his late works have been compared to impressionist painting.
In addition to voluminous works of fiction, James published articles and books of criticism, travel, biography, autobiography, and plays. Born in the United States, James largely relocated to Europe as a young man and eventually settled in England, becoming a British subject in 1915, one year before his death. James was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911, 1912, and 1916.
I have now acquired many of James books. I am quite excited to read them all. I figured I would start with this one. Tales, as they are shorter stories and will work well as my ‘car book’ for when I am waiting on line at parent pick up or the dreaded coal train….
Have you read James?
