Jan 15 2009
Henry James - a British American or viceversa?
The novelist Henry James - another famous “Henry” - is a controversial figure. He was born in 1843 in New York City to a wealthy and intellectual family. He spent much of his youth and also later life, travelling in Europe and was schooled by tutors in Geneva, London, Paris, Bologna and Bonn. He briefly attended Harvard to read law but quickly abandones his studies in favour of letters. He is considered as the greatest master of the novel and novella. He lived mostly in London and visited America for the first time in 25 years in 1905.
James’ cosmopolitan lifestyle and experiences influenced the themes and style of his numerous novels. He often depicted young American women or men confronted by the old world values of Europe, a juxtaposition which made for high drama and established his reputation as a writer of literary realism. His technique was to convey the viewpoint of a character from his or her position within the plot and tale.
Although born to a well off family, James had to make a living from his writing until in his late 50s, he came into a small private income from a family inheritance. He wrote extensively, mainly long novels which were serialized in magazines, as well as travel articles and biographies.
In 1915, he became a British citizen as a way of protest against the reluctace of America to enter the conflict of World War I and as a hommage to his host country. That act caused a lot of hostility towards him. James also wrote several plays, the first of which was a devastating failure. It is thought by some of his biographers, that the experience and crushed hopes of a further career as a play write made him abandon all plans to persue that form of writing any further.
Another controversy surrounds his sexual inclinations. He never married and never had any sexual relationship - at least not with women. He never was an open homosexual either, so a lot of guess work, fuelled by his own ardent letters to close male friends still surrounds that aspect of James’ personality. He died from the consequences of a stroke in 1916 in London.
