Description
Book SynopsisOffers a vision of Henry James as a social critic whose later works can be read as rich with homo-erotic suggestiveness. Drawing from work in queer and feminist theory, this book argues that the most fruitful approach to James is one that ignores the elitist portrait of the formalist master.
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
