Henry James Portrait
Source: Scholar's Guide

 

Henry James - A Brief Assessment

Like Howells and Clemens, James was also a prolific writer. Apart from writing fiction, James made important contributions to the genre of literary theories, especially through his famous essay, "The Art of Fiction," 1884. His conception of writing fiction is defined in these words: "A novel is, in its broadest definition, a personal, a direct impression of life, that, to begin with, constitutes its value, which is greater or less according to the intensity of the impression. But there will be no intensity at all, and therefore, no value, unless there is freedom to feel and say." In his treatment of subject matter, James felt that no aspect of life should be excluded. He said that "the province of art is all life, all feeling, all observation, all vision ... it is all experience. That is a sufficient answer to those who maintain that it must not touch the sad things of life ..." James's style of writing is magnificent and his canvas is broad - encompassing both Europe and America. He is a master of character portrayal and has extensively used the "stream of consciousness" method in his fictional writing.

Primary Works

Roderick Hudson, 1876; The American, 1877; Daisy Miller, 1878; The Europeans, 1878; Hawthorne, 1879; Washington Square, 1880; The Portrait of a Lady, 1881; The Bostonians, 1886;The Turn of the Screw, 1898; The Wings of Dove, 1902; The Ambassadors, 1903; The Beast in the Jungle, 1903; The Golden Bowl, 1904.

| Top | Selected Bibliography

Auerbach, Jonathan. The Romance of Failure: First-Person Fictions of Poe, Hawthorne, and James. NY: Oxford UP, 1989. PS 374.F24 A94

Barnett, Louise K. "Jamesian Feminism: Women in `Daisy Miller.'" Studies in Short Fiction 16.4 Fall 1979: 281-87.

Berland, Alwyn. Culture and Conduct in the Novels of Henry James. NY: Cambridge UP, 1981. PS2124.B48

Bradbury, Nicola. Henry James: The Later Novels. Oxford Eng.: Clarendon P, 1979. PS2124

Bradley, John R. ed. Henry James and Homo-Erotic Desire. NY: St. Martin's Press, (Oct) 1998.

Edel, Leon. Henry James: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1963. PS2124.E38

---. Henry James. Vols. 1-5. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1953-1972. PS2123 .E33

The Untried Years, 1843-1870. 1953.

The Conquest of London, 1870-1881. 1962.

The Middle Years, 1882-1895. 1962.

The Treacherous Years, 1895-1901. 1969.

The Master, 1901-1916. 1972.

Gard, Roger. Henry James: The Critical Heritage. NY: Barnes & Noble, 1968. PS2124.G35

Gargano, James W. Critical Essays on Henry James: The Early Novels. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1987. PS2124.C75

Gargano, James W. Critical Essays on Henry James: The Late Novels. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1987. PS2117.C75

Graham, Kenneth. Indirections of the Novel: James, Conrad, and Forster. NY: Cambridge UP, 1988. PR 881.G73

Greenwald, Elissa. Realism and the Romance: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James, and American Fiction. Ann Arbor: UMI Research P, 1989. PS 374.R37 G7

Hocks, Richard A. Henry James: A Study of the Short Fiction. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1990. PS2124.H56

Hutchinson, Stuart. Henry James, an American, as Modernist. Totowa, N.J.: Barnes & Noble Books, 1983. PS2124.H87

Long, Robert E. Henry James, the Early Novels. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1983. PS2124.L62

Macnaughton, William R. Henry James: The Later Novels. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1987. PS2124.M267

Maini, Darshan Singh. Henry James: Studies in Themes and Techniques. Bombay: Tata McGraw-Hill Pub. Co. 1973. PS2124.M27

Schug, Charles. The Romantic Genesis of the Modern Novel. Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 1979. PR888.R73 S3

Tompkins, Jane P., ed. Twentieth Century Interpretations of The Turn of the Screw, and Other Tales; a Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall 1970. PS2124.T6

Trask, Michael. "Getting into it with James: substitution and Erotic Reversal in The Awkward Age." American literature 69.1 (Mar 1997): 105-139.

Veeder, William. Henry James - The Lessons of the Master: Popular Fiction and Personal Style in the Nineteenth Century, 1975.

Wagenknecht, Edward. The Novels of Henry James. NY: F. Ungar Pub. Co., 1983. PS2124.W28

---. The Tales of Henry James. NY: F. Ungar Pub. Co., 1984. PS2124.W284

White, Allon. The Uses of Obscurity: The Fiction of Early Modernism. Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981. PR878.M63 W48

| Top | The Portrait of a Lady - Selected Bibliography

Andres, Sophia. "Narrative Instability in The Portrait of a Lady: Isabel on the Edge of the Social." Journal of Narrative Technique 24.1 (Wint 1994): 43-54.

Baris, Sharon. "Gender, Judgment, and Presumptuous Readers: The Role of Daniel in The Portrait of a Lady." Henry James Review 12.3 (Fall 1991): 212-30.

Buchanan, D.. "'The Candlestick and the Snuffers': Some Thoughts on The Portrait of a Lady." Henry James Review 16.2 (Sprg 1995): 121-30.

Donahue, Peter. "Collecting as Ethos and Technique in The Portrait of a Lady." Studies in American Fiction 25.1 (Sprg 1997): 41-57.

Edel, Leon. "The Myth of America in The Portrait of a Lady." Henry James Review 7.2/3 (Wint 1986): 8-17.

Bloom, Harold. ed. Henry James's The Portrait of a Lady. NY: Chelsea, 1987.

Fogel, Daniel. ed. "New Essays on The Portrait of a Lady." Henry James Review 7.2/3 (Wint 1986). Special Edition

Gilmore, Michael T. "The Commodity World or The Portrait of a Lady ." New England Quarterly 59.1 (Mar 1986): 51-74.

Hadella, Paul M. "Rewriting Misogyny: The Portrait of a Lady and the Popular Fiction Debate." American Literary Realism 26.3 (Sprg 1994): 1-11.

Herron, Bonnie L. "Substantive Sexuality: Henry James Constructs Isabel Archer as a Complete Woman in His Revised Version of The Portrait of a Lady." Henry James Review 16.2 (Sprg 1995): 131-41.

Hochenauer, Kurt. "Sexual Realism in The Portrait of a Lady: The Divided Sexuality of Isabel Archer." Studies in the Novel 22.1 (Sprg 1990): 19-25.

Jones, Peter. "Pragmatism and The Portrait of a Lady." Philosophy and Literature 5.1 (Sptg 1981): 49-61.

Laird, J. T. "Cracks in Precious Objects: Aestheticism and Humanity in The Portrait of a Lady." American Literature 52.4 (Jan 1981): 643-648.

Mazzella, Anthony J. "An 'Attendance upon . . . Gentlemen': The B.B.C. Video Adaptation of The Portrait of a Lady." Henry James Review 14.2 (Sprg 1993): 179-87.

Porte, Joel. ed. New Essays on The Portrait of a Lady. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1990.

Richmond, Marion. "The Early Critical Reception of The Portrait of a Lady (1881-1916)." Henry James Review 7.2-3 (Wint-Sprg 1986): 158-63.

- - -. "Henry James's The Portrait of a Lady: A Bibliography of Primary Material and Annotated Criticism." Henry James Review 7.2-3 (Wint-Sprg 1986): 164-195.

Sayres, William G. "The Proud Penitent: Madame Merle's Quiet Triumph in Henry James's The Portrait of a Lady." Essays in Literature 19.2 (Fall 1992): 231-45.

Stafford, William T. "The Portrait of a Lady: The Second Hundred Years." Henry James Review 2.2 (Wint 1981): 91-100.

Tintner, Adeline R. "'In the Dusky, Crowded, Heterogeneous Back Shop of the Mind': The Iconography of The Portrait of a Lady." Henry James Review 7.2-3 (Wint-Sprg 1986): 140-157.

Torsney, Cheryl B. "The Political Context of The Portrait of a Lady." Henry James Review 7.2-3 (Wint-Sprg 1986): 86-104.

Ventura, Mary K. "The Portrait of a Lady: The Romance/Novel Duality." American Literary Realism 22.3 (Sprg 1990): 36-50.

Walton, Priscilla L. "'There's No Such Thing as an Isolated Man or Woman': Subjectivity and The Portrait of a Lady." Connecticut Review 12.2 (Sumr 1990): 95-104.

Warner, John M. "Renunciation as Enunciation in James's The Portrait of a Lady." Renascence 39.2 (Wint 1987): 354-64.

Warren, Jonathan. "Imminence and Immanence: Isabel Archer's Temporal Predicament in The Portrait of a Lady." Henry James Review 14.1 (Wint 1993): 2-16.

Westervelt, Linda A. "'The Growing Complexity of Things': Narrative Technique in The Portrait of A Lady." Journal of Narrative Technique 13.2 (Sprg 1983): 74-85.

White, Robert. "Love, Marriage, and Divorce: The Matter of Sexuality in The Portrait of a Lady." Henry James Review 7.2-3 (Wint-Sprg 1986): 59-71.

Wiesenfarth, Joseph. "A Woman in The Portrait of a Lady." Henry James Review 7.2-3 (Wint-Sprg 1986): 18-28.

| Top | Study Questions

1. Examine Howells's Novel-Writing and Novel-Reading and James's The Art of Fiction and discuss points of convergence and divergence.

2. In The Art of Fiction, James writes, "A novel is in its broadest definition a personal, a direct impression of life." With this quotation as your point of reference, analyze the particular "impression" James is trying to create in Daisy Miller, The Real Thing, or The Beast in the Jungle.

3. James has often been called a psychological realist, more interested in the development of consciousness than in portraying character types and social reality. Discuss the extent to which this observation holds true in Daisy Miller or The Beast in the Jungle.

4. Analyze The Real Thing as a story in which James explicitly chooses to define the word real, and show how James's characterization of the Monarchs evolves a theory of fiction.

5. Although Daisy Miller appears to focus on the portrait of Daisy herself, a reader might argue that James's real interest is in Winterbourne. Rethink the events of the story as Daisy herself might have viewed them and suggest ways in which the author of A White Heron or of A New England Nun might have differently handled both the story and the portrait of Daisy.

6. Bring together evidence of James's interest in convention and social forms from all four anthologized stories and analyze a particular scene from one of them that illustrates James's analysis of social reality.

7. James perfected the use of point of view as a narrative device. Choose one incident from The Beast in the Jungle and analyze his use of point of view in that story. What does it reveal? What does it conceal? How does it achieve its effectiveness? What is its significance in terms of the story's themes?

8. In Chapter XXII of The Turn of the Screw, the governess writes: "I could only get on at all by taking 'nature' into my confidence and my account, by treating my monstrous ordeal as a push in a direction unusual, of course, and unpleasant, but demanding, after all, for a fair front, only another turn of the screw of ordinary human virtue." Explore James's use of the term nature for the governess and evaluate how it motivates her "turn of the screw of ordinary human virtue."

9. Choose an interpretation of The Turn of the Screw that you find particularly compelling and defend it with a close reading of the text.

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