Henry James, Paste

Joseph O'Leary

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 1899

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Story

Resources

Dating from 1899, “Paste” is a neglected story, infused with late Jamesian subtlety, which like the eponymous pearls at first appears a mere pastiche but comes to acquire a warm, erotic glow with successive readings. In this it is an apt tribute to Maupassant, whose art can seem cheap, yet reveals subtle depth. When James claimed that the story “was to consist but of the ingenious thought of transposing the terms of one of Guy de Maupassant’s admirable contes [‘La Parure’]” (The New York Edition , Vol. XVI, x), so that the mistake is to be “a matter not of a false treasure supposed to be true and precious, but of a real treasure supposed to be false and hollow” (ib.), he had …

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1258 words

Citation: O'Leary, Joseph. "Paste". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 June 2008 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=21696, accessed 20 April 2024.]

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