Description
Book SynopsisPositioning Henry James's work within an interpretative context that pits the social and political anxieties of his day against the imperatives of an aesthetic ideology, this work is of interest to scholars, students, and teachers of American literature and culture, gay literature, and queer theory.
Trade Review“Daring and dazzling in scope, John Carlos Rowe’s brilliant readings create the makings of an alternative canon for James’s career, one more suitable to our time.”—Daniel T. O’Hara, Temple University
Table of ContentsContents Preface Introduction: Henry James and Critical Theory Swept Away: Henry James, Margaret Fuller, and "The Last of the Valerii" A Phantom of the Opera: Christopher Newman's Unconscious in The American Acting Lessons: Racial, Sexual, and Aesthetic Politics in The Tragic Muse Textual Preference: James's Literary Defences against Sexuality in "The Middle Years" and "The Death of the Lion" The Portrait of a Small Boy as a Young Girl: Gender Trouble in What Maisie Knew Spectral Mechanics: Gender, Sexuality, and Work in In the Cage Conclusion: Henry James and the Art of Teaching Notes; Index
