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Book Cover
Book
Author Williams, Merle A.

Title Henry James and the philosophical novel : being and seeing / Merle A. Williams
Published Cambridge [England] ; New York, NY, USA : Cambridge University Press, 1993

Copies

Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 W'PONDS  810.4 J2784 Z/Wih  AVAILABLE
Description 250 pages ; 24 cm
Contents Machine derived contents note: Introduction: Jamesian thinking and philosophy as story-telling -- 1. What Maisie Knew: the challenge of vision -- 2. The Ambassadors: observation and interpretation passion and compassion -- 3. The Wings of the Dove: self and society -- 4. The Spoils of Poynton: experiments in subjectivity and truth -- 5. The Golden Bowl: the complex of shaping relations -- Conclusion: Henry James's version of the philosophical novel
Summary Henry James and the Philosophical Novel breaks fresh ground by examining James's unique position as a philosophical novelist, closely associated with the climate of ideas generated by his brother, William, and his father, the elder Henry. The book offers a detailed consideration of story-telling as a mode of philosophical enquiry, showing how a range of distinguished thinkers have relied on fictional narrative as a vital technique for formulating and clarifying their ideas. At the same time, it investigates (with close reference to his novels) the affiliations between James's practice as a novelist and the epistemological, moral and linguistic concerns pursued by members of the Phenomenological Movement. The study brings to light striking similarities between James's later works and the philosophical project of Merleau-Ponty; it emphasizes James's growing attraction to, and versatility with, deconstructive strategies such as those later employed by Jacques Derrida
Analysis English fiction
United States
English fiction
United States
Notes Bibliography: p232-245. - Includes index
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages [232]-245) and index
Subject James, Henry, 1843-1916 -- Philosophy.
Fiction -- Technique.
Narration (Rhetoric)
Narration (Rhetoric) -- History -- 19th century.
Narration (Rhetoric) -- History -- 20th century.
Philosophy in literature.
Philosophy -- In literature.
LC no. 92013655
ISBN 0521431107