Henry James and the Father Question

ISBN-13: 9780521807227 / Angielski / Twarda / 2002 / 246 str.

Andrew Taylor (University College Dublin)

Opis

The intellectual relationship between Henry James and his father proved to be an influential resource for the novelist. Andrew Taylor examines the nature of both men's engagement with autobiographical strategies, issues of gender reform, and the language of religion. He argues for a reading of Henry James that is informed by an awareness of paternal inheritance. Through the study of a wide range of novels and texts, he demonstrates how James Senior's dialogue with his contemporaries, such as Emerson and Whitman, anticipates James's own theories of fiction and selfhood.

Recenzje

"In response to several earlier studies, especially the work of Quentin anderson and Alfred Habegger's ^Henry james and the 'Woman Business' ... Taylor takes issue with 'blinkered and dehistoricized' treatments of the relationship between Henry James Senior and Henry James Junior." Choice

Spis treści

Acknowledgements; Note on brief titles; Introduction: the nature of inheritance; 1. Autobiography and the writing of significance; 2. Reading the 'man without a handle': Emerson and the construction of a partial portrait; 3. 'Under certain circumstances': Jamesian reflections on the fall; 4. Doing 'public justice': New England reform and The Bostonians; 5. Breaking the mould; Conclusion: 'the imminence of a transformation scene'; Notes; Index.