Henry James

This is a study of Henry James's changing attitudes to history as a narrative model, tracing the development from his early interest in 'scientific' historiography to the radically antihistorical character of his late works. James's use of the term 'history' was influenced by developments in nineteenth-century historiography, but was also embedded in the complex of defensive manoeuvres through which Victorian culture sought to control its anxiety about the power of fiction. Reading James's novels in the light of nineteenth-century debates about the morality of authorship and the politics of reading, Dr Jolla finds that fiction moves from being history's censored 'other' in the early works to being a valued mode of problem-solving in the later fiction. This shift may be seen as the product of James's increasing engagement with the reading practices of groups marginalized by high Victorian culture: women, the working class, other cultures, and the avant-garde. Drawing on contemporary narrative theory, and providing illuminating readings of a large number of James's novels, Roslyn Jolly has written a sophisticated and persuasive analysis of James's shifting definitions of history and fiction.

A study of Henry James's changing attitudes to history as a narrative model, moving from his early interest in "scientific" historiography to the radical, anti-historical character of his late works.

Part 1 Fiction and history - James's early theory of the novel: hostility to fiction; the historiographical model. Part 2 Competing with life - the earlier novels: the anti-romances - "Washington Square", "The American", "The Portrait of a Lady" and "The Princess Casamassima"; challenging history - "Roderick Hudson", "The Europeans" and "The Tragic Muse". Part 3 The old superstition about fiction being "wicked": "In the Cage"; "The Turn of the Screw"; "The Sacred Font". Part 4 "The Ambassadors" and the fictional contract. Part 5 History, fiction and power in "The Golden Bowl". Part 6 Counter-realities - James's last phase: taking liberties with history; war and counter-reality.