About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherPennsylvania STATE University Press

ISBN-100271016590

ISBN-139780271016597

eBay Product ID (ePID)1024967

Product Key Features

Number of Pages180 Pages

Publication NamePrefaces of Henry James : Framing the Modern Reader

LanguageEnglish

Publication Year1997

SubjectRhetoric, American / General, Semiotics & Theory, Books & Reading, United States / General

TypeTextbook

Subject AreaLiterary Criticism, Language Arts & Disciplines, History

AuthorJohn H. Pearson

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height0.5 in

Item Weight15 Oz

Item Length9 in

Item Width6 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceScholarly & Professional

LCCN96-031044

TitleLeadingThe

Reviews"John Pearson has written an insightful and well-documented analysis which every James scholar will have to read but which may also be of great interest to scholars interested in the history of fictional theory and the role Jamesian aesthetics played in the development of that theory." -- English Studies, &"Pearson&'s work is a significant contribution to James studies and to the larger project of mapping the history of early modern literature. . . . He is right on target when he argues for a reading of the prefaces within the context of the edition as authorial performance&-which is to say, within the context of the &'semiotic field&' in which they originally appeared.&" &-David McWhirter, Texas A & M University-College Station, "John Pearson has written an insightful and well-documented analysis which every James scholar will have to read but which may also be of great interest to scholars interested in the history of fictional theory and the role Jamesian aesthetics played in the development of that theory." -English Studies, &"John Pearson has written an insightful and well-documented analysis which every James scholar will have to read but which may also be of great interest to scholars interested in the history of fictional theory and the role Jamesian aesthetics played in the development of that theory.&" &-English Studies, "John Pearson has written an insightful and well-documented analysis which every James scholar will have to read but which may also be of great interest to scholars interested in the history of fictional theory and the role Jamesian aesthetics played in the development of that theory." --English Studies, "Pearson's work is a significant contribution to James studies and to the larger project of mapping the history of early modern literature. . . . He is right on target when he argues for a reading of the prefaces within the context of the edition as authorial performance-which is to say, within the context of the 'semiotic field' in which they originally appeared." -David McWhirter, Texas A & M University-College Station, "Pearson's work is a significant contribution to James studies and to the larger project of mapping the history of early modern literature. . . . He is right on target when he argues for a reading of the prefaces within the context of the edition as authorial performance--which is to say, within the context of the 'semiotic field' in which they originally appeared." --David McWhirter, Texas A & M University-College Station, "John Pearson has written an insightful and well-documented analysis which every James scholar will have to read but which may also be of great interest to scholars interested in the history of fictional theory and the role Jamesian aesthetics played in the development of that theory." - English Studies, "Pearson's work is a significant contribution to James studies and to the larger project of mapping the history of early modern literature. . . . He is right on target when he argues for a reading of the prefaces within the context of the edition as authorial performance--which is to say, within the context of the 'semiotic field' in which they originally appeared." --David McWhirter,Texas A & M University-College Station

Dewey Edition20

Dewey Decimal813/.4

SynopsisToward the end of his career, Henry James published his collected works in a single edition, which has come to be known as the New York Edition. Rather than simply reprint his fictional work, James entered into a massive work of self-monumentalization, revising the texts extensively, and writing prefaces that have become classic texts on prose aesthetics and the novelist's art. John Pearson argues here for a reading of the prefaces within the context of the New York Edition as James's attempt to construct an ideal reader, one attentive to his art and authorial performance., The first decade of the twentieth century saw Henry James at work selecting and revising his novels and tales for a collection of his work known as the New York Edition . James not only made extensive revisions of his early works; he added eighteen prefaces that provide what many readers believe to be the best commentary on his fiction. John Pearson argues here for a reading of the prefaces within the context of the New York Edition as James's attempt to construct an ideal reader, one attentive to his art and authorial performance. Throughout his discussion of the eighteen prefaces, Pearson examines the strategies that James implements for preparing the reader for the prefaced texts. He argues that James sought to create the modern reader, one who would learn to appreciate and discriminate his literary art through reading the prefaces. By demonstrating that the prefaces frame the novels and tales in aesthetic histories that are authorized and authenticated by the author-historian's personal memory, Pearson accomplishes his analysis of James's use of the frame and how it systematically instructed the reader in the Jamesian aesthetic of fiction. Through close readings of several of the novels and tales including The Awkward Age , What Maisie Knew , The Portrait of a Lady , The Aspern Papers , and The Wings of the Dove , Pearson's comprehensive study examines the various framing strategies at work and considers the broader theoretical implications of reading through the prefaces. Pearson's eclectic theoretical approach, similar to the recent poststructural work of John Carlos Rowe, makes a complex argument accessible to an educated reader untutored in recent poststructural literary theory.

LC Classification NumberPS2127.T4P43 1997