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Henry JamesA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Henry James (1843-1916) is among the most prominent turn-of-the-century writers, spanning literary schools (American and British) and eras (Realism and Modernism). Born to a family of intellectuals in New York, James spent time in various European countries growing up, and his literary influences included French writers like Honoré de Balzac as well as Americans like Nathaniel Hawthorne. James finally settled in England in 1875 and became a British citizen in 1915, and his works contain many notable characters who are expatriates like himself; critics have described James’s writing as “trans-Atlantic.” Many of James’s works, “The Jolly Corner” included, center on characters attempting to navigate the differences between the “young” nation of America and the “old” societies of Europe. This tension informs Spencer Brydon’s dissatisfaction with the industrialization of New York, which Alice Staverton is better able to embrace because she is less tied to any notion of “traditionalism.” “The Jolly Corner” also fits within James’s catalog of ghost stories. His most notable work in this genre is The Turn of the Screw, which also features a haunted family home.
Although James is best known as the novelist who penned works such as The Portrait of a Lady and The Ambassadors, he began his career as a writer of short stories and never fully abandoned the form.
By Henry James
Daisy Miller
Daisy Miller
Henry James
Roderick Hudson
Roderick Hudson
Henry James
The Ambassadors
The Ambassadors
Henry James
The American
The American
Henry James
The Aspern Papers
The Aspern Papers
Henry James
The Beast in the Jungle
The Beast in the Jungle
Henry James
The Bostonians
The Bostonians
Henry James
The Golden Bowl
The Golden Bowl
Henry James
The Portrait of a Lady
The Portrait of a Lady
Henry James
The Real Thing
The Real Thing
Henry James
The Turn of the Screw
The Turn of the Screw
Henry James
The Wings of the Dove
The Wings of the Dove
Henry James
Washington Square
Washington Square
Henry James
What Maisie Knew
What Maisie Knew
Henry James