Henry James :: essays research papers

Post-Civil War American Literature saw a transition from the prominence of romance to the development of realism. In the ripe 1800s, the United States was experiencing swift growth and change as a result of a changing economy, society, and culture because of an influx in the number of immigrants into America. (Spiller 35) Whereas authors previously seek to "idealize human beings, fall in love with a dream, and then, reject the real man or woman who had inspired the dream", they now worked to accurately portray purport and people as they really were. (Wagenknecht 68) Realists such as Henry crowd together and William Dean Howells, two of the most prolific writers of the nineteenth-century, used distinctive realistic methods to create an accurate depiction of changing American life& adenine9Henry James was one of five children of affulent, eccentric parents. period his birth in 1843 was in New York City, his parents were purposly rootless, and by the age of eighteen he had already crossed the Atlantic six times. He avoided p machinationicipation in the Civil War because of a poor back and began a role which he would maintain throughout his life and writings, one of a detached commentator rather than participant in the American social scene. (Matthiessen 14)&9The first phase of James writing begins when he is twenty-one, in 1864 and continues until 1881. He was extremely popular during this time, especially during after publication of a short story Daisy Miller, which is concerned with the destruction of a naive American girl by European mores. James continues the theme of placing Americans without sufficient social experience into the complex society and culture of Europe with The American, which chronicles a man whose finds himself unable to buy his way into French society. (Matthiessen 14)&9For Henry James, the years of 1882 to 1895 brought less success. His novels now took on a more political tone. (Matthiessen 15) In 1886, he published Th e Bostonians, regarding the feminist movement in New England. Here, "he complained that women who wanted to become just like men were disregarding their own uniqueness." (Norton 616) The Tragic Muse, published in 1890, continues this trend as it contrasts art with politics. After these works failed commerically , James turned to the British stage he found no greater success there. (Matthiessen 15) &9The period of James life recognized as the final phase, the one which Matthiessen calls the "Major Phase", revolves around three novels with which James assured himself a place in American Literature.