This comprehensive account of the writing life of Henry James aims at
providing a critical overview of all his important writings, firmly set
in two contexts: that of James's practical career as a novelist in
America, England, and Europe; and that of the literary and intellectual
climate of his time. By tracing the complex development of his career
under such headings as 'American and Romantic', 'Victorian and Realist',
'Crisis and Experiment' and 'Master and Modernist', it gives a dynamic
portrait, both factual and interpretative, of one of the greatest and
most prolific novelists in the language, whose many-sided career began
in the time of Thackeray and Dickens, and ended by ushering in the
writings of Joyce and Woolf.