Henry James

Lore & Background

Henry James was an American-British author seen as a crucial bridge between literary realism and modernism, often ranked among the greatest English-language novelists. He was the son of theologian Henry James Sr. and the brother of philosopher William James and diarist Alice James. His novels explore the social and romantic interactions among American expatriates, the English, and continental Europeans, as in The Portrait of a Lady. His later novels, including The Wings of the Dove, The Ambassadors, and The Golden Bowl, became more experimental.

James frequently wrote in a style that layered ambiguous or conflicting motives and impressions to depict characters’ inner thoughts and social dynamics. Because of this unique ambiguity and other compositional features, his late works have been called Impressionist. His novella The Turn of the Screw is considered the most analyzed and ambiguous ghost story in English and remains his most adapted work for other media.

He also wrote other well-regarded ghost stories, such as "The Jolly Corner." James produced articles and books on criticism, travel, biography, autobiography, and plays. Born in the United States, he lived much of his life abroad, moving to Europe in his thirties and eventually settling in England, where he became a British citizen in 1915, a year before his death. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911, 1912, and 1916. Jorge Luis Borges remarked, "I have visited some literatures of East and West; I have compiled an encyclopedic compendium of fantastic literature; I have translated Kafka, Melville, and Bloy; I know of no stranger work than that of Henry James."

Early years, 1843–1883

James was born on 15 April 1843 at 21 Washington Place near Washington Square in Manhattan, New York City, to Mary Walsh and Henry James Sr. His father was an intelligent, consistently genial lecturer and philosopher who inherited wealth from his own father, William James, an Irish farmer from County Cavan who emigrated to Albany, New York, and became the state’s second richest man through banking and real estate. Mary came from a wealthy New York City family; her sister Katherine lived with the family for an extended period. Henry Jr. was one of four boys, including older brother William and younger brothers Garth Wilkinson and Robertson, along with his sister Alice. Both parents were of Irish and Scottish descent.

Before his first birthday, his father sold the Washington Place house and took the family to Europe, where they lived in a cottage in Windsor Great Park, England. They returned to New York in 1845, and Henry spent much of his childhood between his paternal grandmother’s home in Albany and a house on West Fourteenth Street in Manhattan, where a painting of Florence by Thomas Cole hung in the front parlor. His father designed his education to expose him to many influences, mainly scientific and philosophical; Percy Lubbock, editor of his selected letters, called it "extraordinarily haphazard and promiscuous." Once, a cousin visiting the Fourteenth Street house read aloud the first installment of David Copperfield; Henry sneaked downstairs to listen, but sobbed loudly during a scene involving the Murdstones, was discovered, and sent back to bed.

Between 1855 and 1860, the James family traveled to London, Paris, Geneva, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Bonn, and Newport, Rhode Island, following the father’s interests and publishing projects, and returning to the United States when money ran low. They arrived in Paris in July 1855 and stayed at a hotel on the Rue de la Paix. Around 1856–1857, when William was fourteen and Henry thirteen, the brothers visited the Louvre and the Luxembourg Palace. Henry studied mainly with tutors and briefly attended schools during their European travels.

In Paris, a tutor named M. Lerambert had written a book of verse praised by Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve. The family’s longest stays were in France, where Henry felt at home and became fluent in French. He had a stutter that seemed to appear only when speaking English; in French, he did not stutter.

In the summer of 1857, the family moved to Boulogne-sur-Mer, renting a house at No. 20 Rue Neuve Chaussée, where Henry regularly visited an English lending library. That autumn, his father wrote to a friend that Henry was not fond of formal study but loved reading, calling him "a devourer of libraries, and an immense writer of novels and dramas," though unsure if he would ever accomplish much. William wrote to their parents in Paris, while the boys were in Bonn, that Henry and Garth Wilkinson would wrestle when study made them dull. In 1860, the family returned to Newport, Rhode Island, where Henry befriended Thomas Sergeant Perry, later a celebrated literary academic, and painter John La Farge, for whom Henry sat as a subject.

Reader's Guide

James was born at 21 Washington Place in New York City on 15 April 1843. His parents were Mary Walsh and Henry James Sr. Before he was a year old, his father took the family to Europe, where they lived for a time in a cottage in Windsor Great Park in England. The family returned to New York in 1845. Between 1855 and 1860, the James household travelled to London, Paris, Geneva, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Bonn, and Newport, Rhode Island.

James studied primarily with tutors, and briefly attended schools while the family travelled in Europe. A tutor of the James children in Paris, M. Lerambert, had written a volume of verse that was well reviewed by Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve. In 1860, the family returned to Newport.

In July 1861, James and Thomas Sergeant Perry visited an encampment of wounded Union soldiers. In the autumn of 1861, James received an injury, probably to his back, while fighting a fire, which made him unfit for military service. In 1862, Henry attended Harvard Law School but realized he was not interested in studying law.

His first published work was a review of a stage performance in 1863. His first short story, "A Tragedy of Error", was published anonymously about a year later. In 1871, he published his first novel, Watch and Ward, in serial form. During a 14-month trip through Europe in 1869–70, he met John Ruskin, Charles Dickens, Matthew Arnold, William Morris, and George Eliot.