Henry James (4149 words)

Kate Campbell (University of East Anglia)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.3: Early Twentieth-century US-American Writing and Culture, 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: Charlotte Beyer (University of Gloucestershire), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dimitra Fimi (Cardiff Metropolitan University), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Sean Seeger (University of Essex), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

Life: 15-04-1843 to 28-02-1916
Activity: 1869 to 1916

Places

United States (Birth; Primary Activity)
United Kingdom, England (Primary Activity)

Activities

Autobiographer (Primary)
Biographer (Primary)
Essayist (Primary)
Letter-writer/ Diarist (Primary)
Literary Critic/ Historian (Primary)
Novelist (Primary)
Playwright / Dramatist (Primary)
Story-writer (Primary)
Travel writer (Primary)

Context

Articles on James' Works

Henry James was born off Broadway, in Washington Place, New York, 1843, the second of five children. Henry's father, Henry James Sr. (q.v.), contrary to the Protestant work ethic that had brought him inherited wealth, preached a life of being rather than doing. He was reliant on his wife Mary who appeared both strong and selfless. His main activity was propounding his philosophical and social ideas for the spiritual and social improvement of mankind in numerous lectures, essays, writing in the press and informal advocacy; and travelling, often at short notice.

So the James children grew up on the move, on both sides of the Atlantic. Henry Jr. crossed it as a baby, for a stay of nearly two years, and then again at twelve, …

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

We have have no profile for this entry. If you are a qualified scholar and you wish to write for The Literary Encyclopedia, please click here to contact us.

Citation:
Campbell, Kate. "Henry James". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 June 2002
[https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5083, accessed 22 June 2018.]

View recommended reading for this article
Extracts of texts by James

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here.