Henry James's Permanent Adolescence

Henry James remained throughout his life focused on his boyhood and early manhood, and correspondingly on younger boys and men, and John R. Bradley illustrates how it is in the context of such narcissism that James consistently dealt with male desire in his fiction. He also traces a more subtle but related trajectory in James's writing from a Classical to a Modernist gay discourse, which in turn is shown to have been paralleled by a shift in James's fiction from naturalistic beginnings to later stylistic evasion and obscurity. This radical book, which covers the whole of James's career, will quickly be recognized as a defining text in this emerging field of James studies.

Henry James remained throughout his life focused on his boyhood and early manhood, and correspondingly on younger boys and men, and John R. Bradley illustrates how it is in the context of such narcissism that James consistently dealt with male desire in his fiction. He also traces a more subtle but related trajectory in James's writing from a Classical to a Modernist gay discourse, which in turn is shown to have been paralleled by a shift in James's fiction from naturalistic beginnings to later stylistic evasion and obscurity. This radical book, which covers the whole of James's career, will quickly be recognized as a defining text in this emerging field of James studies.

Booknews

Bypassing the issue of whether American writer James (1843-1916) was or was not sexually active, literary critic Bradley inquires into his homosexual consciousness, which he characterizes as a documentable and central aspect of his life and writing. Among the topics are critical hostility, defining his homosexuality, the importance of being manly in his early fiction, John Addington Symonds, and the uses of obscurity. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

John R. Bradley is an Independent Scholar.