Henry James

Henry James, OM (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.

Though American literary master Henry James was an ardent proponent of realistic story elements that readers could relate to, many of his works also deal with the question of perception and how our senses and beliefs can influence the way we see the world. It's a running theme in the four short stories collected in James' Embarrassments.

The Awkward Age is a novel by Henry James, first published as a serial in Harper's Weekly in 1898-1899 and then as a book later in 1899. Originally conceived as a brief, light story about the complications created in her family's social set by a young girl coming of age, the novel expanded into a general treatment of decadence and corruption in English fin de si cle life. James presents the novel almost entirely in dialogue, an experiment that adds to the immediacy of the scenes but also creates serious ambiguities about characters and their motives.

As the Victorian era drew to a close and the twentieth century loomed, women began to assert themselves more and take greater liberties. It was a shift that Henry James dealt with in many of his stories, including the beguiling novella Georgina's Reasons. The Georgina of the title is a mysterious figure who commits a number of transgressions for reasons that ultimately remain unclear. It's a masterful character study of the caliber only James is capable of producing.

First published in 1884, and revised substantially in 1900, A Little Tour in France recounts James's six-week tour of provincial France-as he notes "France may be Paris, but Paris is not France." Urbane, witty, knowledgeable, James is a charming tour guide as he leads readers from Touraine to Provence, and thence north again to Burgundy.

Never say you know the last words about any human heart I was once treated to a revelation which startled and touched me in the nature of a person with whom I had been acquainted-well, as I supposed-for years, whose character I had had good reasons, heaven knows, to appreciate and in regard to whom I flattered myself I had nothing more to learn. It was on the terrace of the Kursaal at Homburg, nearly ten years ago, one beautiful night toward the end of July. I had come to the place that day from Frankfort, with vague intentions, and was mainly occupied in waiting for my young nephew, the only son of my sister, who had been entrusted to my care by a very fond mother for the summer-I was expected to show him Europe, only the very best of it-and was on his way from Paris to join me. The excellent band discoursed music not too abstruse, while the air was filled besides with the murmur of different languages, the smoke of many cigars, the creak on the gravel of the gardens of strolling shoes and the thick tinkle of beer-glasses. There were a hundred people walking about, there were some in clusters at little tables and many on benches and rows of chairs, watching the others as if they had paid for the privilege and were rather disappointed. I was among these last; I sat by myself, smoking my cigar and thinking of nothing very particular while families and couples passed and repassed me. I scarce know how long I had sat when I became aware of a recognition which made my meditations definite. It was on my own part, and the object of it was a lady who moved to and fro, unconscious of my observation, with a young girl at her side. I hadn't seen her for ten years, and what first struck me was the fact not that she was Mrs. Henry Pallant, but that the girl who was with her was remarkably pretty-or rather first of all that every one who passed appeared extremely to admire.

Henry James, OM (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.

Sometimes, it's not the lingering relationships that stick in our memories, but rather the brief, fleeting encounters. In the brilliant short story Four Meetings, literary master Henry James explores an intense infatuation that ran its entire course in only four meetings.

"The Figure in the Carpet" is a short story published in 1896 in London, by American writer Henry James. The short story is usually referred to as a novella and is told in the first person. The narrator, whose name is never revealed, meets his favorite author and becomes obsessed with discovering the secret meaning or intention within all the author's works.

The Wings of the Dove is a 1902 novel by Henry James. It tells the story of Milly Theale, an American heiress stricken with a serious disease, and her effect on the people around her. Some of these people befriend Milly with honourable motives, while others are more self-interested. Kate Croy and Merton Densher are two betrothed Londoners who desperately want to marry but have very little money. Kate is constantly put upon by family troubles, and is now living with her domineering aunt, Maud Lowder.

Henry James, OM 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.

Though Henry James is best remembered as a titan of nineteenth-century American literature and an important innovator in the domain of literary realism, he was also a key figure in the literary criticism of the period and helped to shape the era's critical sensibility. In this fascinating volume, James focuses his critical lens on Nathaniel Hawthorne, his creative forebear, who many regard as one of James' only true literary equals in the American canon.

In the Cage is a novella by Henry James, first published as a book in 1898. This long story centers on an unnamed London telegraphist. She deciphers clues to her clients' personal lives from the often cryptic telegrams they submit to her as she sits in the "cage" at the post office. Sensitive and intelligent, the telegraphist eventually finds out more than she may want to know.

The Portrait of a Lady is a novel by Henry James, first published as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly and Macmillan's Magazine in 1880-81 and then as a book in 1881. It is one of James's most popular long novels and is regarded by critics as one of his finest. Isabel Archer, originally from Albany, New York, is invited by her maternal aunt, Lydia Touchett, to visit Lydia's rich husband, Daniel, at his estate near London, following the death of Isabel's father. There, Isabel meets her uncle, her friendly invalid cousin Ralph Touchett, and the Touchetts' robust neighbour, Lord Warburton.

Within the Rim and Other Essays is a collection of five essays by Henry James on the First World War: "Within the Rim", "Refugees in Chelsea", "The American Volunteer Ambulance Corps in France", "France" and "The Long Wards". The essays were written during 1914 and 1915, in the months before James's final illness, and were published separately between 1914 and 1917.

Maisie's parents go through an acrimonious divorce when she is very young, and the court decrees that she will travel between them, spending time with each. They do not hesitate to use her in their war against each other, and she is neglected and abandoned by them as they each remarry and then take further lovers. The story follows her to maturity, when she is able to decide her own fate.

The novel The Spoils of Poynton represents a major turning point in the stylistic development of American literary master Henry James, as he eased into the tense, taut drawing-room dramas that would come to characterize his later work. The story centers on the struggle between a widow and her son as they decide what to do with the family collection of antiques, but under the surface, it's a brilliant look at family dynamics during a period of change, turmoil and shifting roles.

The Portrait of a Lady is perhaps Henry James' greatest novel. It tells the story of Isabel Archer, a young American heiress who "affronts her destiny". Dealing with one of James' recurrent themes, the American in Europe, and the differences between the two cultures, The Portrait of a Lady is a tale of the conspiracy to separate Isabel from her fortune and the value of autonomy and accountability.

Aurora Church, a young American woman, is on a transatlantic liner, returning to the USA after an extended stay in Europe with her mother. She writes to a friend in Paris about her liberating sense of excitement of returning home, and the people she has met during the voyage. As a Europhile, her mother is not looking forward to the experience, and she has failed to find a husband for Aurora because she has no dowry.