HENRY JAMESHenry JamesHenry JamesEdevaldo Contreras Cristián BravoEnglish UMCE 2015

Henry James(April 15th 1843 –February 28th 1916)

• He was an American writer who spent most of his writing career in Britain.

• He was the son of the lecturer and philosopher Henry James, Sr. and brother of philosopher and psychologist William James.

• In his youth, James travelled back and forth between Europe and America.

• He is best known for a number of novels showing Americans encountering Europe and Europeans.

• James claimed that a text must first and foremost be realistic and contain a representation of life that is recognisable to its readers.

• Good novels, to James, show life in action and are, most importantly, interesting.

• In 1915 he became a British subject, as a protest for the null intervention of his country in World War One.

• In 1916 he was awarded the Order of Merit. He died on February 28, 1916 in Chelsea, London. His ashes were buried in Cambridge cemetery in Massachusetts.

InfluenceHenry became a friend of the painter John La Farge, who introduced him to French literature, and in particular, to Balzac.

James later called Balzac his “greatest master,” and said that he had learned more about the craft of fiction from him than from anyone else.[1] Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850)

Admiration

Henry James’ great volume of literary critic shows an evident appreciation for George Eliot’s profound sensibility and accurate portrayal of simple lives.

Mary Ann (1819-1880) (Pen name George Eliot)

Themes• James is one of the major figures of trans-Atlantic literature.

• His works frequently juxtapose:

1. Characters from the Old World (Europe), embodying a feudal civilization that is beautiful, but often corrupt, and alluring.

2. Characters from New World (United States), where people are often brash, open, and assertive and embody the virtues of freedom and a more highly evolved moral character of the new American society.

3. Therefore, James explores this clash of personalities and cultures, in stories of personal relationships in which power is exercised well or badly.

Style

• His method of writing from a character’s point of view allowed him to explore issues related to consciousness and perception, and his style in later works has been compared to impressionist painting.

• His imaginative use of point of view, interior monologue and unreliable narrators brought a new depth to narrative fiction.

His Legacy

• Although James’ career was developed during The Victorian Era (1837-1901),he is considered one of the first modernist writers.

• He is regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism.

• James also contributed significantly to literary criticism, particularly in his insistence that writers be allowed the greatest possible freedom in presenting their view of the world (realism).

• Henry James has been called the first of the great psychological realists in our time (centre of consciousness)

• Honoured as one of the greatest artists of the novel, he is also regarded as one of America's most influential critics and literary theorists.

• Stream of consciousness writing was introduced, and became the written equivalent of impressionist art. The literary works of Henry James is an excellent illustration of how writers were able to create the impression of life in writing.

• His art was monumental in the modernist period, and like many other impressionist painters, he reshaped the idea of perception.

• Hand in hand the impressionist painters, and the stream of consciousness writers remodelled our view of perception. 

In the literature of the United States

• Henry James, Edith Wharton , and Arthur Miller are considered “the major contributors to the practice of psychological realism.”[2]

Function of Stream of Consciousness

• It is a style of writing developed by a group of writers at the beginning of the 20th century.

• It aimed at expressing in words the flow of a character’s thoughts and feelings in their minds.

• The technique aspires to give readers the impression of being inside the mind of the character.

• Therefore, the internal view of the minds of the characters adds light on plot and motivation in the novel.

Impressionism (Painting)

A very prolific author• His literary career lasted fifty one years, which

spanned the period from the end of the American Civil War (1861-1865) to the beginning of World War I (1914),

• James produced a body of tales and novels that fills thirty-six volumes and an almost equal number of volumes of non-fiction prose, including travel books, autobiography, books of criticism, letters, and literary notebooks.

The Portrait of a Lady (1881)1. Generally regarded as the masterpiece of James’s early period,

2. Is a story of a spirited young American woman, Isabel Archer, who in “affronting her destiny”, finds it overwhelming.

3. She inherits a large amount of money and subsequently becomes the victim of Machiavellian scheming by two American expatriates.

4. Like many of James’s novels, it is set in Europe, mostly England and Italy.

5. This novel reflects James’s permanent interest in the differences between the New World and the Old, often to the detriment of the former.

6. It also treats in a profound way the themes of personal freedom, responsibility, and betrayal.

The Bostonians (1886)1. This bittersweet tragicomedy centres on an odd triangle of characters:

• Basil Ransom, a political conservative from Mississippi

• Olive Chancellor, Ransom’s cousin and a Boston feminist; and

• Verena Tarrant, a pretty, young protégée of Olive’s in the feminist movement.

2. The storyline concerns the struggle between Ransom and Olive for Verena’s allegiance and affection, though the novel also includes a wide panorama of political activists, newspaper people, and quirky eccentrics.

The Ambassadors (1903)1. A dark comedy, seen as one of the masterpieces of James’s final

period.

2. Follows the trip of protagonist Lewis Lambert Strether to Europe in pursuit of Chad Newsome,

3. He is to bring the young man back to the family business, but he encounters unexpected complications.

4. The third-person narrative is told exclusively from Strether’s point of view.

References and Notes• [1] See e.g. Cheryl Torsney, Constance Fenimore Woolson:The Grief of

Artistry (1989, “Edel’s text ... a conventionladen male fantasy”).

• [2] N. Baym, et al. Eds. The Norton Anthology of American Literature: Shorter Seventh Edition, New York: W.W. Norton Co. 2008, p. 1697

• "Impressionism and Stream of Consciousness Writers Comparison between Henry James and Walter Sickert."123HelpMe.com. 07 Dec 2015 <http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=111187>.

• Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2008. © 1993-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.