Henry James, Washington Square

Leonardo Buonomo (Universita degli studi di Trieste)

Ed. by Neil Cornwell, University of Bristol
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.3: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Early Twentieth-century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1881

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Writing to his friend and fellow novelist William Dean Howells in January 1880, Henry James announced the forthcoming serialization of his new novel Washington Square. As if to disown it, while at the same time calling attention to the special quality and significance of what he had undertaken, he styled it “a poorish story in three numbers – a tale purely American, the writing of which made me feel acutely the want of the ‘paraphernalia’”. As James’s notebooks testify, the main source for Washington Square was a story that the English actress Frances Anne Kemble had told him about her brother: he, a handsome, selfish, penniless soldier, had captivated the heart of a plain, dull heiress, but had deserted …

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

2350 words

Citation: Buonomo, Leonardo. "Washington Square". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 03 March 2007 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8692, accessed 21 November 2024.]

Save this article