A Historical Guide to Henry James

The New York City-born Henry James (1843-1916)-eminent novelist, amateur psychologist, inveterate bachelor-epitomizes, to many, the turn-of-the-century literary observer of social mores. His shrewd portraits of upper-class Anglo American society in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries distilled the differences between the Old World and the New, the rise of American entrepreneurship, and an aesthetically charged European sensibility. With fictional works like Washington Square, The Turn of the Screw,and The Portrait of a Lady, he displayed characters of great psychological depth, careful narrative detail, and distinctly vivid prose. With a brief biography, concise bibliographical essay, and six essays devoted to cultural context that defined him, A Historical Guide to Henry Jamesoffers an excellent primer to the author's fiction and the cultural milieu that influenced him.

John Carlos Rowe is USC Associates' Professor of the Humanities and Chair of the Department of American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California.

Eric Haralson is Associate Professor of English at Stonybrook University.