Henry James
Henry James is a central figure in the history of the novel, one whose style is among the most recognizable (and inimitable) in English. A deconstructionist before Derrida was even a gleam in his parents’ eyes, James inhabited language’s inherent ambiguity as deeply as anyone ever has and crafted quietly devastating plots that reveal how what is not said can be used to bewilder and control. As time goes by, his concerns—his “international theme,” of the confrontation of innocence with developed sensibility; or his interest in the territory between “writer” and “author” that all writers inhabit—become more rather than less relevant, which may be one reason he himself has appeared as a character in no fewer than eight novels (and counting) in the past decade. We will read his short novels Daisy Miller and The Turn of the Screw, short stories, the novel The Portrait of a Lady, and others. 3 hrs. lect.