Henry James, The Lesson of the Master

Neil Chilton (University of Bristol)

Ed. by Neil Cornwell, University of Bristol
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.3: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Early Twentieth-century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: J. Michael Duvall (College of Charleston), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Tony Papanikolas (San Jose State University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1892

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novella

Resources

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“The Lesson of the Master”, Henry James's enigmatic tale of marriage and the artist, appeared in the

Universal Review

on 16 July and 15 August 1888; its first book publication was in a revised form in the 1892 collection, itself entitled

The Lesson of the Master

. James revised the story again for inclusion in Volume XV of the New York Edition of his novels and tales (1907–1909), a volume which, as James notes in its Preface, comprises pieces dealing “all with the literary life”.

Arriving for a weekend party at Summersoft, a charming country-house near London, an ambitious young writer called Paul Overt is thrilled to learn that the celebrated novelist Henry St George might be amongst the other guests. The two men have never met, and Paul is keen to observe the “high literary

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1532 words

Citation: Chilton, Neil. "The Lesson of the Master". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 April 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=373, accessed 19 April 2024.]

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