Henry James

Henry James: The Contemporary Reviews presents the most thorough gathering of newspaper and magazine reviews of James's work ever assembled. Other volumes in the American Critical Archives series have concentrated on reviews from American publications, but because of the importance of James's British connection, this issue generously samples reviews from British newspapers and periodicals. The focus here is on the novels, but reviews of James's most important travel narrative are included as well. The volume ends with reviews of The American Scene, James's impressionistic narrative of his relationship with his birthplace. This collection also reprints many rarely seen notices written by the most important women reviewers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Each chapter ends with a checklist of additional reviews not presented here. The introduction surveys the major themes of the reviews and also shows the extent to which they personally influenced James and his work.