HENRY JAMES (1843—1916)
(becomes British subject in 1915)
(1) American youth (1843—1875):
the James family
William James (1842—1910): psychologist and philosopher
New York City
(2) early career (1876—1880): “romance”
“ The International Theme”
Roderick Hudson (1875)
The American (1877)
“
Daisy Miller” (1878)
Hawthorne (1879)
(3) middle years (1881—1890): “realism” / “point
of view”
James lives in Paris and London
The Portrait of a Lady (1881)
The Bostonians (1886)
(4) transition (1894—1901) (“the treacherous years”): “the
scenic”
theatrical failure: Guy Domville (1895)
“scenic” novellas: The Spoils of Poynton (1897)
What Maisie Knew (1897)
The Turn of the Screw (1898)
(5) Major Phase (1902—1904): “modernism”
The Wings of the Dove (1902)
The Ambassadors (1903)
The Golden Bowl (1904)
(6) “the Master” (1904—1916):
1904: return to U.S. (after absence of 21 years)
The American Scene (1907)
influence on new generation of novelists
1911: return to London