Description
Book SynopsisDiscover anew the life and influence of Henry James, part of the acclaimed Wiley Blackwell Critical Biographies series.
In The Life of Henry James: A Critical Biography, Peter Collister, an established critic and authority on Henry James, offers an original and fully documented account of one of America's finest writers, who was both a creative practitioner and theorist of the novel. In this volume, James's life in all its personal and cultural richness is examined alongside a detailed scrutiny of his fiction, essays, biographies, autobiographies, travel writing, plays and reviews.
James was a dedicated and brilliant letter-writer and his biographer make judicious use of this material, some of it previously unpublished, evoking in the novelist's own words the society within which he moved and worked. His gift for friendship, often resulting in close relationships with both men and women, are sensitively explored. Near the beginning of his long and
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Note on the text xi
Abbreviations xii
Prelude: James and Biography xiv
Part I The Early Years 1
1 ‘Wondering and Dawdling and Gaping’ in New York City (1843 –1855) 3
2 Europe and Newport: In Search of a ‘Sensuous Education’ (1855 –1861) 26
3 Civil War and ‘a Consecration to Letters’ (1861–1869) 49
Part II Independence and Europe 71
4 Italy and the ‘Complex Fate’ of Being an American (1869 –1872) 73
5 Return to Italy and ‘an Incalculable Number of Gathered Impressions’ (1872 –1873) 93
6 Rome and Paris: Roderick Hudson: An Experiment in Journalism (1873 –1876) 110
7 ‘The Wheel of London Life’ and Early Novels (1876 –1879) 134
8 Friendships Begin and End: The Achievement of The Portrait of a Lady (1879–1881) 156
Part III The Lure of the Theatre 181
9 Family Deaths: New Friendships in Europe (1881–1884) 183
10 A Range of Novels: Robert Louis Stevenson and Constance Fenimore Woolson (1885–1887) 209
11 ‘The Sawdust & Orange-peel Phase’ Begins: The Tragic Muse (1887–1891) 229
12 Deaths and Losses: Theatrical Ventures (1891 –1895) 248
Part IV The Later Years 269
13 Return to ‘The Sacred Fluid of Fiction’ (1895 –1899) 271
14 A Roman Encounter: ‘Letting Yourself Go’ (1899 –1902) 297
15 ‘Dearly Beloved’ Young Men: The Final Novels (1902 –1904) 323
16 The ‘Agreeable and Absorbing Adventure’ of America: The New York Edition and Last Stories (1904 –1909) 343
17 Loss of William, ‘So Shining a Presence’: Autobiographical Writing: The Great War and Death (1909 –1916) 369
Letter Details 395
Notes 421
Bibliography 435
Index 447
