Letting yourself go: James arrives in twentieth-century America -- Surrendering to the messages of New York -- Boston and Cambridge: initiations from the past -- Asking 'as few questions as possible' in Arcadian New England -- Hearing the voices of the South -- 'Unwritten history': the romance of James's Civil War stories -- 'Doing something' for the soldiers of the Civil War -- Life-writing for the man of letters -- 'An influence beyond my notation': the self-reflexive figures of 'The jolly corner' -- Opening doors into The sense of the past -- 'A round of visits': effects achieved 'without the aid of the ladies' -- Waking up to 'some pretty big things' in The Ivory tower.
Summary
This exciting and original monograph re-evaluates the final decade of Henry Jamess creative life. In 1904-5 the elderly expatriate made an extensive tour of North America. Through close literary analysis of his later writing, Peter Collister recovers Jamess American identity.
