The other Henry James
Rowe, John Carlos
The other Henry James - Durham, NC Duke University Press 1998 - xv, 238 pages ; 23 cm
Includes bibliographical references and index. In The other Henry James, John Carlos Rowe offers a new vision of Henry James as a social critic whose later works can now be read as rich with homoerotic suggestiveness. Drawing from recent work in queer and feminist theory, Rowe argues that the most fruitful approach to James today is one that ignores the elitist portrait of the formalist master in favor of the writer as a vulnerable critic of his own confused and repressive historical moment. Rowe traces a particular development in Jamess work, showing how in his early writings James criticized womens rights, same-sex relations, and other social and political trends now identified with modern culture; how he ambivalently explored these aspects of modernity in his writings of the 1880s; and, later, how he increasingly identified with such modernity in his heretofore largely ignored or marginally treated fiction of the 1890s. Building on recent scholarship that has shown James to be more anxious about gender roles, more conflicted, and more marginal a figure than previously thought, Rowe argues that James through his treatment of women, children, and gays, indicts the values and conventions of the bourgeoisie. He shows how James confronts social changes in gender roles, sexual preferences, national affiliations, and racial and ethnic identifications in such important novels as The American, The Tragic Muse, What Maisie Knew, and In the Cage, and in such neglected short fiction as The Last of the Valerii, The Death of the Lion, and The Middle Years. 2019"
0822321475
James, Henry, 1843-1916--Political and social views
Literature and society--United States--History
Literature and society--Great Britain--History
Social classes in literature
Homosexuality and literature
Social ethics in literature
Children in literature
Sex role in literature
813.4
The other Henry James - Durham, NC Duke University Press 1998 - xv, 238 pages ; 23 cm
Includes bibliographical references and index. In The other Henry James, John Carlos Rowe offers a new vision of Henry James as a social critic whose later works can now be read as rich with homoerotic suggestiveness. Drawing from recent work in queer and feminist theory, Rowe argues that the most fruitful approach to James today is one that ignores the elitist portrait of the formalist master in favor of the writer as a vulnerable critic of his own confused and repressive historical moment. Rowe traces a particular development in Jamess work, showing how in his early writings James criticized womens rights, same-sex relations, and other social and political trends now identified with modern culture; how he ambivalently explored these aspects of modernity in his writings of the 1880s; and, later, how he increasingly identified with such modernity in his heretofore largely ignored or marginally treated fiction of the 1890s. Building on recent scholarship that has shown James to be more anxious about gender roles, more conflicted, and more marginal a figure than previously thought, Rowe argues that James through his treatment of women, children, and gays, indicts the values and conventions of the bourgeoisie. He shows how James confronts social changes in gender roles, sexual preferences, national affiliations, and racial and ethnic identifications in such important novels as The American, The Tragic Muse, What Maisie Knew, and In the Cage, and in such neglected short fiction as The Last of the Valerii, The Death of the Lion, and The Middle Years. 2019"
0822321475
James, Henry, 1843-1916--Political and social views
Literature and society--United States--History
Literature and society--Great Britain--History
Social classes in literature
Homosexuality and literature
Social ethics in literature
Children in literature
Sex role in literature
813.4