Henry James in the tradition of the American short story. (1830-1864)

Abstract

This study examines James's tales in relation to the American short story during the period 1830-1864, with special reference to theory, procedure, theme and structure. The introduction points out the rather slight critical attention which this extensive relationship has been accorded and gives reasons for the study's necessary limitations. I analyses James's complex conception of the tale form and explores the major distinctions which he recognised within the form. The nature of his tale donnees and his procedure from donnee to tale are examined and it is suggested that the growing point of the tale is often closer to idea or to abstract pattern than is usually acknowledged. II places James's tale career in the context of American literary and historical change. The different reactions of James and his main predecessors to the magazine, the tale's most important and often influential vehicle are indicated. James's almost total rejection of the sketch as fiction is pointed out, against the widespread previous combination of sketch and tale elements; but James's use of American narrators is suggested to be a rediscovery of an established sketch feature. James's early tales are related to the post --- Civil War climate, but in them is located the partial survival of the romance technique and the reinforced awareness of the displaced individual as hero. III The most important conceptions of the tale in this period are analysed and related to that of James. The story procedure of Hawthorne and Melville is also defined and a basic connection with James is established in the seminal symmetry from which a large group of tales grow. IV Several themes which preoccupied the major American tale writers in this period are located in James; broadly, those of isolation as an American problem, the dialectic of past and present and the anatomy of the self. Similarities of structure and treatment are suggested and a more direct dependence established in the cases of two pairs of tales. Appendix I tabulates the most important of James's donnees which are based on a thematic symmetrical opposition or a structure of parallelism.