Notes on Novelists, With Some Other Notes

Henry James (1843-1916) was an American-British author regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, who is considered to be one of the greatest novelists in the English language. His best-known novels, including The Portrait of a Lady and The Wings of the Dove, deal with the social and marital interplay between emigre Americans, the English, and continental Europeans, whilst his later works were increasingly experimental, describing the internal states of mind and social dynamics of his characters. In addition to his novels, he published articles and books of criticism, travel, biography, and plays. Born in the US, James largely relocated to Europe as a young man and eventually settled in England, becoming a British subject in 1915, the year before his death. This book of literary criticism first published in 1914 is a collection of essays James had written over the preceding two decades on French, Italian, English and American writers. It also includes his controversial essay The New Novel (1914) which passes judgment on various contemporary writers and occasioned much disagreement.