Meaning in Henry James

by Millicent Bell

Book Overview

Henry James rebelled against the tyranny and banality of plots. Believing a life to have many potential paths and a self to hold many destinies, he hung the evocative shadow of what might have been over much of what he wrote. Yet James also realized that no life can be lived - and no story written - except by submission to some outcome. In this study of James's work, Millicent Bell explores this oscillation between hope and fatalism, indeterminacy and form, and uncertainty and meaning. In the process Bell provides fresh insight into how we read and interpret fiction.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 067455762X
• ISBN13: 9780674557628
• Release Date: September 1991
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.5" x 9.6"