The Cambridge Companion to Henry James

This in-depth work is intended to provide a critical introduction to James' work. Throughout the major critical shifts of the past 50 years, and despite suspicions of the traditional high literary culture that was James' milieu, as a writer he has retained a powerful hold on readers and critics alike.

Chronology; Introduction: the moment of Henry James Jonathan Freedman; 1. Men, women, and the American way Martha Banta; 2. The James' family theatricals Frances Wilson; 3. Henry James: the question of our texts Philip Horne; 4. Henry James and the invention of novel theory Dorothy Hale; 5. Henry James and the idea of evil Robert Weisbuch; 6. Queer Henry in the cage Hugh Stevens; 7. The unmentionable subject in the pupil Millicent Bell; 8. Realism, culture, and the place of literary: Henry James and The Bostonians Sara Blair; 9. Lambert Strether's excellent adventure Eric Haralson; 10. James's elusive wings William Stowe; 11. Henry James's American dream in The Golden Bowl Margery Sabin; 12. Affirming the alien: the pragmatist pluralism of the American scene Ross Posnock.